Metaphysics

by Richard Taylor

This classic, provocative introduction to classical metaphysical questions focuses on appreciating the problems, rather than attempting to proffer answers.

Genres: Philosophy, Metaphysics, Nonfiction

168 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database named Richard Taylor.

Richard Taylor was an American philosopher known for his dry wit and Socratic approach, and an internationally-known beekeeper. He received his Ph.D. at Brown University, and taught principally there as well as at Columbia and the University of Rochester, from which he retired in 1985.

Reviews

[Alfie · Rating 5 out of 5]

great introduction to the classical questions

[Gunner Willis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, mind bending, and very confusing. Hilarious that every chapter was written like this.

“You cannot state the definition of a thing merely by describing what it is not. For example, what is a hot dog? One could explain, with great enthusiasm and confidence, a hot dog is not a human schlong dong, which of course would be comforting, but not helpful in the least bit in explaining what a hot dog is.”

[David Haines · Rating 3 out of 5]

This introduction to Metaphysics, by Richard Taylor, is an interesting book. Taylor seeks to introduce students to metaphysical thinking. As such he brings up more problems than he solves. Some of his solutions are great, others lack depth. Though he refers readers, in the suggestions for further readings, to works written prior to Descartes, he often passes over the observations of the Medieval and Ancient philosophers, giving preference to analytical philosophy. All in all the book is quite interesting, including thought provoking chapters on human free-will, fate, God, and human nature. The only annoying thing about this book is that Taylor is constantly insulting "non-philosophers" as being shallow and incapable of rational thought, and philosophers as making mountains out of mole hills. The rhetorical remarks about views that he doesn't like are uncalled for. Aside from this drawback, the book is thought provoking and well worth the read.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily one of my favorite books of all time. Just re-read it after 23 years!

[Biplab Mallick]

I want to read this book.

[Craine · Rating 5 out of 5]

An honestly strange and puzzling introduction book to metaphysics as the first solid 50% of the book concerns themes within philosophy of mind and not metaphysics. Familiar questions concerning free will (the perpetual debate between the differing positions such as determinism, libertarian free will and compatibilism being the main contenders), the relationship between mind and matter ( materialism, idealism, dualism,...) where, since themes are very much discussed in terms of consciousness and mental states, it feels like this belongs more to an introductory book on philosophy of mind rather than metaphysics. This also extends to the inclusion of a discussion on fatalism to which a whole chapter is devoted.
Its really then from chapter 7 and onwards where we really get going with metaphysics, where we finally explore more at a fundamental level what the nature of reality is taken to mean in its most general sense. To throw a little more salt into the wound, being that the book is remarkably short (around 140 pages) its a shame that so much time is devoted to issues which would have been better placed in an introductory book on the philosophy of mind. Its then also rather ironic that the series to which the book belongs, the ' foundations of philosophy series' also has a book devoted to philosophy of mind. Another objection stems from the fact that the author insists upon using the outdated terminology of referring to 'all people' or 'everyone ' as men. This is also admitted by the author in the preface of the book where none the less there are some confusing mishaps in the book such as when we as readers encounter the phrase ' We are most at home when thinking of how to do this or that. Hence, engineering, politics, and industry are quite natural to men'. There were after all several editions of this book and this terminology would have been even outdated in 1970's when the second edition of this work was released.

Having dispensed with the main objection to this book, I did find myself enjoying the book as a whole, where the author can serve as rather witty at times as remarked in another review of the book. This extends to adding an illustration exemplifying different theories within philosophy taken from a cartoon in which the subject looks like a wingless bird! The authors harshness at times can also be rather humorous as when he remarks that 'there is no point in recommending dualism as an improvement over materialism'.

What serves as the main strength of the book however is the books representation of the main objections to differing philosophical positions discussed. The author Richard Taylor is not as neutral as one is accustomed with in terms of more modern academic writing but this does extend to Taylor 'strawmanning' other positions. Rather, I would say that each position is weighed somewhat carefully in terms of strengths and weaknesses. The technicality in terms of the descriptions is also very manageable, so that no special requirements are assumed for the reader. This means that themes such as causation which can become rather technical and advanced in terms of nuance are described along with the rest of the themes in the book in a simple succinct manner.

I only lament that the reader is forced to wait until chapter 7 where more uniquely metaphysical themes are discussed starting of with a discussion on space and time. Although, one can if one wishes read only half the book and not miss out on much in terms of metaphysics or treat the book as a very very terse introduction on both metaphysics combined with philosophy of mind.

(Note: I don't like the star rating and as such I only rate books based upon one star or five stars corresponding to the in my opinion preferable rating system of thumbs up/down. This later rating system increases in my humble opinion the degree to which the reader is likely to engage with a review instead of merely glancing at the number of stars of a given book.)

[Faheem · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this really useful, for a introductory state of play in metaphysics. It’s brief and it will give you a vocabulary for western metaphysics, more than that it gives you sense of how western analytics does philosophy. As it’s introductory so it’s jargon free.

Funnily enough his chapter on God basically demonstrates the argument of contingency, why the Universe can co-exist eternally with God, creation is less to do with ‘come into being’ but rather having dependence on God, and that He is Primary as opposed to First in a series.

Pretty impressive to seem some Ibn Sina as well as some other Thomistic arguments in a jargon free way. Hah - did not expect that!

[Christina Knight · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book is a work of theistic apologetics, which ignores the huge body of work in metaphysics, that refutes the approach and conclusions of the author. Reworking the classical arguments, doesn't make them any less irrational than when Acquinas made them. I regret wasting my money on this book.

[-a- · Rating 5 out of 5]

The part about fatalism was significantly challenging and full of good insights. Except the part about god -which was a bit too narrow for the subject- the book is contented with top quality philosophy.

[Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

The vast majority of this book is of five-star quality, but I had to bump my rating down to three for the dated and quite bad chapter on the existence of God.

[Francis · Rating 5 out of 5]

very easy to digest intro to metaphysics - love his diagrams

[Luis Espinoza · Rating 4 out of 5]

I´m not sure if it is the same book (although it has the same name and author). Anyway, the version I´m reviewing is the one from the Foundations of Philosophy Series by Prentice Hall. It is a very short book (105 pages) but I found it to be highly entertaining, engaging, and easy to read. The book is mostly a brief review of certain metaphysical problems, all of them interesting on their own. From time to time it felt a little bit repetitive, mostly because the questions that the author is analyzing are rather basic/intuitive (which is sort of the point of metaphysics).

The only section that felt really long was the one about Fatalism, perhaps because the suppositions of this theory are somewhat absurd and the author threats it as such without diving further on what the implications are for the belief of an all-knowing God. I think that the best section is the last one where he treats the cosmological and teleological arguments that tend to point towards God, which the author finds unnecessary for his analysis. This is interesting because once you leave the religious jargon behind, the cosmological and teleological arguments are more intelligible on their own.

[Neofry · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books. I read it in college for a class. I wouldn't think it makes that much of a difference to have a teacher and a class discussion, but after reading some comments, I am led to believe otherwise.
It starts out with a quote by William James: "Metaphysics is nothing more than an unusually obstinate effort to think clearly"
(correct me if I'm wrong; I always end up giving my books away...)

What's different about this book is that Taylor is not saying ~for this topic, this is how it works~
Rather he takes various topics, each as an example, and looks at different views and how they relate to various premises. He doesn't try to prove a viewpoint. Instead, he wants the reader to see that what has always seemed so obvious, may not be so.

Anyone who has spent over a hundred hours reading philosophy books knows the feeling of thinking the author can't really express himself in words (or is still searching for an answer...) I didn't get this from this book.

Neofry

[Jorge · Rating 5 out of 5]

El destino que nos ha dado nuestro propio ser y nuestra condición humana nos ha hecho tales, de este modo, que, siendo humanos, nos felicitamos de nuestras ventajas, que tomamos por realizaciones nuestras; nos quejamos de las fallas del mundo, que designamos como nuestra mala fortuna, y apenas pensamos en el destino, que dispensa arbitrariamente tanto lo uno como lo otro. Metafísica, por Richard Taylor.

[Sarah Paps · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some chapters are incredibly interesting yet most are hard to follow. Metaphysics in general is super fascinating though and this book could make a good primer if you skip through to the chapters that interest you. The chapters on the mind body problem, on time, polarity and meaning gave me a lot to think about and I enjoyed those most.

[Ash Ponders]

I'd love to be able to read this book and glean more from it, but the tone is so preposterously haughty that frankly I can hardly stand to read it at all.

[John Herman · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite introduction to metaphysics. Concise, clear and intelligible.

[Frank Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chapters:
Persons and Bodies
Interactionism
The Mind as a Function of the Body
Freedom and Determination
Fate
Time and Becomming
God

[Jamie Cattanach · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[Chris Feldman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Taylor is one of the few modern philosophical writers that doesn't put me to sleep.