
Thomas Sattig develops and defends a novel philosophical picture of ordinary objects, such as persons, tables, trees, and mountains. His theory carves a middle way between the two accounts that have dominated traditional metaphysics of material objects, namely, classical mereology and Aristotelian hylomorphism. It answers metaphysical, semantical, and psychological questions in a unified framework: What is the nature of ordinary objects? How do we speak about such objects? And how do we conceive of them? The core thesis is that ordinary objects lead double lives: they are compounds of matter and form; and since their matter and form have different qualitative profiles, ordinary objects can be described differently from different conceptual perspectives. A philosophical theory of ordinary objects faces the hard task of saving our common-sense conception of objects from a wide range of hard problems that present our familiar worldview as internally inconsistent and as incompatible with plausible metaphysical principles. The book argues that the proposed theory does a better job than its rivals in saving the appearances. The key that unlocks each problem is that seemingly inconsistent judgements about objects are really consistent because they manifest different perspectives on the same double-layered objects. Many long-standing philosophical mysteries about ordinary objects dissolve, once we realize that they lead double lives. The theory contributes to a wide variety of philosophical debates, including those about parts and composition, persistence, coincidence and constitution, personal identity, modality de re, the grounding problem, determinism, vague objects, the problem of the many, and relativistic metaphysics.
This work investigates the nature of ordinary objects by proposing a dual-layered metaphysical framework that resolves long-standing inconsistencies in how we perceive and describe material entities. Thomas Sattig, a scholar in the field of analytic metaphysics, constructs a theory that bridges the gap between classical mereology and Aristotelian hylomorphism. By arguing that objects possess both matter and form, the author provides a unified system to address complex questions regarding identity, persistence, and the grounding of physical reality.
What You Will Find
Scope Limits
Experts recognize this text as a significant contribution to contemporary ontological debates, particularly for its attempt to reconcile common-sense intuition with rigorous metaphysical principles. Readers frequently note the high level of academic density, making it a specialized resource for students and professionals in philosophy.
Page Count:
240
Publication Date:
2015-01-01
Publisher:
OUP Oxford
ISBN-10:
0191505536
ISBN-13:
9780191505539
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