The contingency of necessity : reason and God as matters of fact /

In the introduction to this carefully organized, well-written book, Tritten (philosophy, Gonzaga Univ.) writes that his thesis is "that all necessity is consequent; or, no necessity is absolute. At bottom, all necessity is based on the utter contingency of being as a factum brutum, the fact that there is something rather than nothing." This is an important issue in Continental philosophy, and even if one finds the conclusions Tritten draws (or his arguments) unconvincing, the trip through this book will give the reader a sense of the importance of the question "How does a necessary essence, for example, rationality, regularity, order and lawfulness, supplement utterly contingent, that is, chaotic, irrational, disordered, unregulated, and lawless existence, the brute fact that there is something rather than nothing?" In particular, Tritten attempts to establish two ramifications regarding the factum brutum of the contingency of being: "(1) that reason itself, the domain of necessary truths, is being's eternally contingent and consequent universal, and (2) that God, while necessary according to essence, is contingent with respect to existence." This leaves Tritten with the conclusion that both God and reason itself are contingent and eternal necessities. This is a difficult but important work for those researching in these areas. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Andrew Jaeger, Benedictine College