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The Harvard philosopher Donald C. Williams (1899-1983) was a key figure in the history of analytic philosophy.
He played a crucial role in reviving metaphysics at a time when other philosophers ridiculed, criticized, and committed it to the flames. He constructed an explanatorily powerful and parsimonious ontology and cosmology founded on logic, science, and common sense. His most influential articles were on the metaphysics of properties ('The Elements of Being') and the metaphysics of time ('The Sea Fight Tomorrow', 'The Myth of Passage'). His ontology of abstract particulars or tropes and his four-dimensional manifold theory of time remain leading hypotheses in metaphysics. Because of his novel contributions and his defense of metaphysics he made a lasting impact on philosophers of the next generation who in turn believed in the substance of metaphysical inquiry.
A. R. J. Fisher brings together Williams's seminal articles in metaphysics along with previously unpublished essays that shed new light on his philosophical outlook and complete his metaphysical vision. This volume, with its comprehensive Introduction, is set to be the definitive source for Williams's work, both for historians of analytic philosophy and for contemporary metaphysicians.
List of contents
- Introduction
- 1: The Duty of Philosophy (c.1965)
- 2: The Elements of Being (1953)
- 3: Universals and Existents (1960)
- 4: Universal Concepts and Particular Processes (1962)
- 5: How Reality is Reasonable (1974)
- 6: Necessary Facts (1963)
- 7: Dispensing with Existence (1962)
- 8: The Sea Fight Tomorrow (1951)
- 9: The Myth of Passage (1951)
- 10: The Nature of Time (1966)
- 11: The Shape of Time (1968)
- 12: The Bugbear of Fate (1974)
About the author
Donald Cary Williams (1899-1983) was professor of philosophy at UCLA from 1930 to 1939 and then at Harvard until his retirement in 1967. He was the author of
The Ground of Induction (Harvard, 1947) and many essays, some of which were collected in
Principles of Empirical Realism (C. C. Thomas, 1966).
A. R. J. Fisher is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Manchester. He received his PhD from Syracuse University in 2012. He specializes in Metaphysics and the History of Analytic Philosophy.
Summary
Donald C. Williams (1899-1983) was a key figure in the development of analytic philosophy. This book will be the definitive source for his highly original work, which did much to bring metaphysics back into fashion. It presents six classic papers and six previously unpublished, revealing his full philosophical vision for the first time.
Additional text
This timely collection, judiciously selected and expertly edited by A. R. J. Fisher, gives us Donald C. Williams at his very best. It makes available his enduringly important contributions to three key issues—the proper business of philosophy, the problem of universals, and the nature of time—which are (or should be) the subject matter of lively current debates. Showing all Williams's eloquence and flair, these essays make it a pleasure to be instructed. We especially gain from Fisher's rescue of unpublished material fit to stand alongside the classic pieces, and his provision of a most useful scene-setting Introduction.
Report
This timely collection, judiciously selected and expertly edited by A. R. J. Fisher, gives us Donald C. Williams at his very best. It makes available his enduringly important contributions to three key issues-the proper business of philosophy, the problem of universals, and the nature of time-which are (or should be) the subject matter of lively current debates. Showing all Williams's eloquence and flair, these essays make it a pleasure to be instructed. We especially gain from Fisher's rescue of unpublished material fit to stand alongside the classic pieces, and his provision of a most useful scene-setting Introduction. Keith Campbell, University of Sydney
