Material Objects in Confucian and Aristotelian Metaphysics

Bold, inventive, and illuminating, and ought to immediately mark [Rooney] as a scholar of note in his fields ... Regardless of one’s specialty, the book presents a tremendous opportunity to think with and alongside an imaginative scholar who has a gift for thinking both deeply and broadly. * The Thomist * Material Objects in Confucian and Aristotelian Metaphysics encompasses a fascinating, historically astute journey through the metaphysics of hylomorphism – the view that objects are compounds of form and matter. Rooney artfully weaves together medieval and contemporary Western approaches to the topic with their Confucian counterparts in a manner that illuminates both traditions. * John Heil, Professor of Philosophy, Washington University, Durham University and Monash University * In an epoch tempted by metaphysical skepticism and philosophical tribalism, this book presents us with a nuanced but confident defense of the prerogatives of universal human reason. James Dominic Rooney investigates the notion of hylomorphic composition in the Thomistic and Aristotelian traditions. Material realities have natures, and ontological unity, as material parts, such that we can understand physical realities in universal terms, and make consistent scientific progress in understanding their causes. Not only does Rooney engage both Aristotelian and contemporary analytic literature on the subject, he also studies in depth the parallel traditions one finds in ancient Confucian thought. What emerges is a decisive argument in favor of all human beings as explanation seeking beings, able to access truths about the structure of material reality across time, place and culture. An important contribution to the revival of metaphysics in contemporary philosophy! * Fr. Thomas Joseph White, OP, Rector, Pontifical University of St. Thomas, Angelicum, Italy * In this book Rooney offers a robust defence of hylemorphic composition whilst at the same time showing that the metaphysical views of two thinkers as divergent in geography and culture as St Thomas Aquinas and Zhu Xi converge on this important issue. Rooney’s work advances both the historical and systematic scholarship in this area and is a welcome addition to the field. * Gaven Kerr, Lecturer in Philosophy, St Patrick’s Pontifical University, Maynooth, Ireland * Father Rooney is one of very few contemporary scholars who are capable of bringing the metaphysics of Aristotle and Zhu Xi into a productive dialogue. This book makes a substantial contribution, not only to metaphysics, but also to our understandings of Aristotle, of Zhu Xi, and of comparative philosophy. * Bryan W. Van Norden, James Monroe Taylor Chair in Philosophy, Vassar College, USA *