The Way toward Wisdom: An Interdisciplinary and Intercultural Introduction to Metaphysics (THOMISTIC STUDIES) 1st Edition Edition

Amazing book that is a must for anyone looking to increase their knowledge on metaphysics.

It is amazing how much information has been packed into this book. it is not only a presentation of Metaphysics in the strict sense, but it also contains important contributions to the History of Philosophy and of Religion, the Philosophy of Natural Science, Mathematics and Ethics, and the process of education.
Ashley is one of the founding fathers of the "River Forest School" of Thomism and is by far its most proliferous exponent. The basic conviction and premise of this school, is that the Aristotelian scientific methodology, as further developed by Aquinas in his commentaries on Aristotle, continues to be valid and applicable within the perspective of the modern empirical natural and social sciences [For a detailed exposition of this view see William A Wallace, "The Modeling of Nature: Philosophy of Science and Philosophy of Nature in Synthesis", Washington: Catholic University Press, 1996]. Thus Ashley argues, in this book, for a Metaphysics understood as a unitive "meta-science" to mediate the contemporary discussions of the problems of interdisciplinarity and interculturality. In particular, Ashley addresses Secular Humanism as the state of mind prevailing in the Anglo-Saxon academic world, challenging it to a dialog with other modes of Western and Eastern thought and religious belief.
Ashley sees Metaphysics as being firmly rooted in empirical natural science, rather than in some intuition of being or some abstraction from sensible experience. He understands science as the explanation of empirically perceived sensible reality by the discovery of underlying causes, insisting that properties of a subject under discussion be established by observation, not by deductive reasoning from some putative abstract essences. Science and philosophy, even Metaphysics, move at first a-posteriori from effect to cause; only when the cause (the middle term of the scientific syllogism) has, in this way, already been discovered, is it possible to reformulate the argument as an a-priori demonstration. Prior to empirical verification, a-prioristic lines of argument yield only hypotheses, which can at best serve as guides for empirical investigation.
Ashley's brilliant, concise presentations of the history of philosophy and the history of religions, despite their brevity, set a standard for all future discussions of these topics.

The following outline, not always identical with the detailed table of contents at the beginning of the book, sets forth what I view as the principal stages of the argument and points of note (with page references). In bracketed texts, I call attention to individual passages that I find particularly noteworthy, even when I am not always entirely convinced by the argument. At times, I use such parentheses to note my (rare) points of criticism.

Chapt. I. THE PROBLEM OF THE UNIFICATION OF KNOWLEDGE
- "interdisciplinarity" and "interculturality"
- the notion of world-view (p.3)
- wisdom as "interdisciplinarity" (p.4)
- the history of the world views (p.5ff.)
- the conditions for effective intercultural dialog (p.15)

Chapt. II. THE HISTORICAL VARIETIES OF METAPHYSICS
- survey of the history of Metaphysics (pp.22-60)
- critique of apriorism: distinction between induction and deduction (pp.33-34
Note 30)
- varieties of Thomist Metaphysics (pp.44-54)
[The discussion here of the theories of knowledge of Kant and Hegel here is
rather too brief and fails to take account of important convergences with
Aristotelian-Thomistic epistemology.]

Chapt III. NATURAL SCIENCE IS EPISTEMOLOGICALLY FIRST
- what it means, to know the essences of sensible things (pp.62-63)
[This is one of the most important sections of the whole book, since it sets
forth Ashley's basic notion of scientific knowledge as knowing through
causes. The "essences of sensible things" are known only as they
show themselves in empirically observable changes. Such knowledge is the
basis for our understanding of Being as Being by analogical expansion, when.
as later will be shown by causal inference in Chapt. IV, it becomes clear
that Being is not restricted to sensible, material being.]
- the methodology of the four questions and the four causes (pp.64-72)
- first principles of natural science (pp.72-75)
- the nine categories of properties in natural science (pp.76-85)
[The study of the categories of being is one of the major tasks of
Metaphysics. The treatment here of the individual accidental categories is
rather too brief and summary. It could have been much expanded by making use
of John Poinsot's (John of St. Thomas, 1589-1644) extensive discussions in
his monumental "Ars logica ... Liber praedicamentorum". ed. B Reiser, Turin:
Marietti, 1948, pp. 540-638, a work of Baroque Thomism which on this subject
ventures far beyond the scope of a merely logical treatise.}
- distinction between direct perception and experimentally controlled
investigation (pp.85-86)

Chapt. IV. THE CULMINATING FOUNDATIONAL THEOREM OF NATURAL SCIENCE
- proof for an immaterial first cause (pp.93-101)
- need for separate prime movers for distinct lines of natural causality
- the process of knowing as it proceeds from initial sense perception to
intellectual insight (pp.102-107)
[explanation of intellectus agens and intellectus possibilis (note 39)]
- consciousness and self-consciousness
- distinction between the "natural attitude" and the Cartesian "reflective
attitude" (p.109)
- demonstration of the immateriality of the soul (pp.111-113)
[a note on Aristotle's faulted neurobiology (pp.111-112)]
- the need for contingent free spirits (pp. 114-117; see also pp.118-119, notes
73 and 74, as well as pp.192ff.
[The argument here is in need of better substantiation and elaboration.]
- dialogue with other views of nature, esp. the Asian world-views (pp.124-131)

Chapt. V. THE EXISTENCE AND ESSENCE OF METAPHYSICS/METASCIENCE
- the notion of Metascience (p.132)
[an analogical, not a univocal subject of Metaphysics]
- what is being? (pp.139ff.)
[the meaning of "being as being" (pp.136ff.) Here one meets the central
thesis of Ashley's understanding of Aristotelian-Thomistic Metascience.
What we know directly is contingent Being as Being (ens commune), which is
characterized by the distinction between essence and existence. Because the
First Cause infinitely exceeds such contingent being, it does not fall
under the subject of Metascience but is rather the principle and goal of
such study. The Being which is the subject of Metascience is an
analogical notion embracing "all existent substances, whether material or
immaterial, as they are contingent, that is composed of an essence (the
potential) really distinct from their existence (the actual) and
considered precisely as existing in various modes that are related as
causes or effects of each other in subordination to the First Universal
Cause as their ultimate principle" (pp.142-143)
- Natural science is the entry portal for Metascience/Metaphysics (pp.146ff.)
[replies to criticism by other Thomists (pp.146-163)]
[replies to objections from modern science (pp.163ff.)]
- the notion of "probable natural science" (pp.165-169)

Chapt. VI. UNITY, PLURALITY, AND EFFICIENT CAUSALITY
- the transcendentals (pp.173ff.)
- substantial unity and the plurality of accidents (pp.179ff.)
- contingent pure spirits (pp. 192ff.cf. p.269)
[The argument for the existence of such spirits needs elaboration.]
- efficient causality (pp.199-200)

Chapt. VII. UNITY AND PLURALITY OF THE OTHER SCIENCES
- the philosophy of Mathematics (pp.201ff.)
- the special character of Mathematical Physics (pp.218ff.)
- the nature and structure of the universe (p.223)
- the unity of the virtues and the foundations of ethics (pp.226-228)
- the nature of human community (pp.228-231)
[Unfortunately, in this section, Ashley falls into a shocking and otherwise
unparalleled example of ethical a-priori-ism, deducing from an abstract
notion of unity, an authoritative primacy of the husband and father in
marriage and the family and criticizing decision-making by consensus. In this
connection, his discussion of fatherhood in the animal kingdom fails to take
account of the latest ethological studies of social relationships among
higher primates.]
- unity and plurality in technologies and fine arts (pp.231-233)

Chapt. VIII. TRUTH AND FORMAL CAUSALITY
- logical and ontological truth (pp.234-239)
- the sources of truth: sensory, intuitive, and discursive aspects (pp. 239 ff.)
[Contrast between the so-called "modern mind" and Indian versus Chinese ways
of thinking (pp.239-241)]
- faith and revelation in the prophetic religions (pp.241-242)
- mystical experience in the other world religions (pp.242-245)
[the Yoga experience: "Enlightenment" (p.243-245)]
[Intuition ("intellectus")is a direct insight that is not the result of merely
speculative construction, but rather an immediate awareness of reality as it
truly is (p.244)]
- diverse views of epistemology: the answer to scepticism (p. 245-265)
- critique of Thomist personalism (p.265)
- formal causality and participation (p.267)
- Evolution (pp.272ff.)
[contingent pure spirits and evolution (p.269)]

Chapt. IX. TRUTH IN THE SPECIAL SCIENCES
- the scientific syllogism as demonstration through causes (pp.278ff.)
[the task of scientific demonstration is not to discover unobservable
properties but to find causal explanations of what is observable directly in
sense experience or indirectly by means of instrumental experimentation
(p.280)]
- analogy (p.284ff.)
- dialectical / probable reasoning (p.305)
- truth in natural science (p.309ff.)
[Quantum physics and the the nature of light]
- history of natural science (pp.315ff.)

Chapt. X. GOODNESS AND FINAL CAUSALITY
- what is teleology? (pp.323ff.)
- esthetics (pp.326ff.)
- the problem of evil (pp.334)
- the community of intelligent persons bonded by love as the goal of the universe
(p.341)

Chapt. XI. FINALITY IN THE SPECIAL SCIENCES
- teleology in natural science (p.343)
- teleological versus deontological ethics (p.347)
- Kantian ethics (p.351)
- divine law rests upon God's wisdom rather than His will (p.353)
- critique of ethical situationalism and proportionalism (pp.363ff)
[This critique is unfortunately marred by the importation of ethical dogmas
derived from contemporary Catholic moral theology; it requires rethinking
from a non-theological point of view.]

Chapt XII. THE ABSOLUTE AND/OR NATURE
- critique of Monism (pp.385ff.)

Chapt. XIII. THE ONE CREATING FIRST CAUSE
- the divine essence and its properties (p.405)
- God's triple causality illustrated by natural science (p.421)
- extrinsic formal causality [P.423)

Chapt XIV. THE WAY TOWARD WISDOM
- the stages of education (pp.434ff.)
- the dialog between secular humanism and spiritual world views (pp.445ff.)

All in all, despite occasional points for criticism, Ashley's book remains a model of its genre and a major contribution not only to the philosophical discussion of the nature of a future Metaphysics, but also and above all to the urgent contemporary interdisciplinary and intercultural discussions with all their concrete and practical implications for the future of our planet and for the welfare of humanity.

Dr. Thomas Riplinger, University of Tübingen