Aims : A Brief Metaphysics for Today

In Aims: A Brief Metaphysics for Today, James W. Felt turns his attention to combining elements of Thomas Aquinas's metaphysics, especially its deep ontology, with Alfred North Whitehead's process philosophy to arrive at a new possibility for metaphysics. In his distinctive style, Felt concisely pulls together the strands of epistemology, ontology, and teleology, synthesizing these elements into his own "process-enriched Thomism."

Aims does not simply discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each philosopher's position, but blends the two into a cohesive argument based on principles derived from immediate experience. Felt arrives at what he calls a "Whiteheadian-type solution,"appealing to his original concept of the "essential aim"as necessary for understanding our existence in a coherent yet unique world. This concise, finely crafted discussion provides a thoroughly teleological, value-centered approach to metaphysics. Aims, an experiment in constructive metaphysics, is a thorough and insightful project in modern philosophy. It will appeal to philosophers and students of philosophy interested in enriching their knowledge of contemporary conceptions of metaphysics.

James W. Felt, S.J., is professor emeritus of philosophy at Santa Clara University. He has published a number of books, including Making Sense of Your Freedom: Philosophy for the Perplexed (Cornell University Press, 1994; reprinted by University of Notre Dame Press, 2005); Coming To Be: Toward a Thomistic-Whiteheadian Metaphysics of Becoming (State University of New York Press, 2001); and Human Knowing: A Prelude to Metaphysics (2005), Aims: A Brief Metaphysics for Today (2007), Adventures in Unfashionable Philosophy (2009) all pubished by the University of Notre Dame Press.