What is, and what is in itself : a systematic ontology /

In this volume, Adams (emer., Yale Univ.) puts forth a very intense contribution to analytic metaphysics that is in dialogue with contemporary thinkers such as Peter van Inwagen, David Lewis, and Willard Van Orman Quine, and important early modern philosophers such as Descartes, Leibniz, and Malebranche. Adams draws on these various thinkers to engage in a rigorous discussion of ontology, particularly the distinction indicated in the title between what is and what is in itself. Adams's particular interest in a systematic ontology leads him to discuss relational aspects of ontology, though in ways that are not always causal. Adam's layout in this book is comprehensive--as it should be given the subtitle--and he spends time on existence, epistemology, occasionalism, idealism, and even Heideggerian "thisness." His final chapters exploring God and the unity of the world are particularly thought provoking. While the text is certainly dense and meant for higher-level students and scholars, it gives a skillful and necessary summary and analysis of modern metaphysical thought up to the present. Summing Up: Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty. --Jeremy Sienkiewicz, Benedictine College