Individuals

An Essay in Descriptive Metaphysics

Peter Strawson

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English

Routledge
17 March 2025

Philosophy; Philosophy: metaphysics & ontology; Philosophy: epistemology & theory of knowledge; Philosophy: logic; History of ideas

Series: Routledge Classics

Sir Peter Strawson (1919–2006) was one of the leading British philosophers of his generation and an influential figure in a golden age for British philosophy between 1950 and 1970.

Individuals, his most important book, is a modern philosophical classic. Bold in scope and ambition, it presents Strawson’s now famous argument for descriptive metaphysics and his repudiation of revisionary metaphysics. Rather than setting out to replace our overall view of the world, in the manner of the great 'revisionary' philosophers of the past, Strawson sets himself the seemingly (but not actually) more modest task of simply describing it. The aim is nothing less than to lay bare the most basic structure of our thought—the most general features of the way in which we think about particular things. A landmark book in the philosophical world and above all analytical philosophy, it remains of vital importance today.

This Routledge Classics edition includes a substantial new Foreword by Michelle Montague, setting out some of Strawson's key themes and arguments. Also included is Strawson's essay 'Individuals'. Published thirty-five years after the book itself and until now not widely available, it sees Strawson summarizing and reflecting on some of the key arguments presented in his book of the same name.

By: Peter Strawson
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 138mm,
Weight: 550g
ISBN: 9781032914831
ISBN 10: 1032914831
Series: Routledge Classics
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 17 March 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Foreword to the Routledge Classics Edition Michelle Montague Preface Introduction Part 1: Particulars 1. Bodies 2. Sounds 3. Persons 4. Monads Part 2: Logical Subjects 5. Subject and Predicate (1): Two Criteria 6. Subject and Predicate (2): Logical Subjects and Particular Objects 7. Language without Particulars 8. Logical Subjects and Existence Conclusion. Appendix: Individuals Index

P. F. Strawson was born in London in 1919. After serving as a captain in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during World War Two he was appointed a fellow of University College Oxford in 1948. He first gained philosophical fame at the age of 29 in 1950, when he criticised Bertrand Russell's renowned Theory of Descriptions for failing to do justice to the richness of ordinary language. He was Waynflete Professor at Oxford from 1968–1987 and was knighted in 1977. He died in 2006.

Reviews for Individuals: An Essay in Descriptive Metaphysics

'This is a book of quite unusual interest and importance, which is likely greatly to influence philosophical discussion on the same and related topics for some time to come... It is a book to read and re-read by anyone with an interest in philosophy.' - Mind 'Encountering philosophy as an undergraduate in 1959 was a wonderful and astonishing experience. That was the year in which two philosophical works appeared whose impact on the discipline was out of all proportion to their modest size and unpretentious prose. One was Stuart Hampshire's Thought and Action; the other, by Peter Strawson, was Individuals. Its demure sub-title, ""An Essay in Descriptive Metaphysics"", gives no hint of the revolution it wrought.' - Alan Ryan, The Independent 'This is a book of quite unusual interest and importance, which is likely greatly to influence philosophical discussion on the same and related topics for some time to come... It is a book to read and re-read by anyone with an interest in philosophy.' - Mind 'Encountering philosophy as an undergraduate in 1959 was a wonderful and astonishing experience. That was the year in which two philosophical works appeared whose impact on the discipline was out of all proportion to their modest size and unpretentious prose. One was Stuart Hampshire's Thought and Action; the other, by Peter Strawson, was Individuals. Its demure sub-title, ""An Essay in Descriptive Metaphysics"", gives no hint of the revolution it wrought.' - Alan Ryan, The Independent