Madison, Ryan Douglas (Author)
Loyola University of Chicago
Peperzak, Adriaan T.
Edition Details: Advisor: Peperzak, Adriaan T.
Physical Details: 608 pp.
Language: English
In my dissertation "First Philosophy: Aristotle's Concept of Metaphysics," I examine Aristotle's idea of metaphysics from two distinct points of view, first as a peculiar human habit and activity and second as an objective scientific discipline. The first part of the dissertation is devoted to an examination of the theoretical life and the nature of contemplation as an exercise of the human intellect. I argue that metaphysics consists primarily in the activity of contemplation, the consideration of truth and reality, and that human happiness for Aristotle lies in a life devoted to such activity. Moreover, I argue that this conception of the superiority of the theoretical life is not at odds with the active life of virtue but rather includes the latter as an integral element. In the second part of the dissertation I argue that first philosophy, or the study of being as such, which is defined by Aristotle in various ways, is a unified discipline that culminates in the study of the highest causes of being, or what Aristotle calls "theology." I show how the Metaphysics presents a coherent, unified and harmonious account of the causal, ontological, and theological components of first philosophy and that this discipline has as its ultimate aim the contemplation of the supreme causes of being. The first part of my dissertation brings to light an unnoticed but significant dimension of first philosophy, while the second part establishes the importance, indeed centrality, of theology to metaphysics, which is increasingly ignored.
...MoreDescription Cited in Diss. Abstr. Int. A 69/05 (2008). Pub. no. AAT 3313153.
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