What It Is to Exist - (Quellen Und Studien Zur Philosophie) by Patrick Zoll (Hardcover)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

One important task of metaphysics is to answer the question of what it is for an object to exist. The first part of this book offers a systematic reconstruction and critique of contemporary views on existence. The upshot of this part is that the contemporary debate has reached an impasse because none of the considered views is able to formulate a satisfactory answer to this fundamental metaphysical question.

The second part reconstructs Thomas Aquinas's view on existence (esse) and argues that it contributes a new perspective which allows us to see why the contemporary debate has reached this impasse. It has come to this point because it has taken a premise for granted which Aquinas's view rejects, namely, that the existence of an object consists in something's having a property. A decisive contribution of Aquinas's theory of esse is that it makes use of the ideas of metaphysical participation and composition. In this way, it can be explained how an object can have esse without being the case that esse is a property of it.

This book brings together a reconstruction from the history of philosophy with a systematic study on existence and is therefore relevant for scholars interested in contemporary or medieval theories of existence.

Review Quotes

"What is being? This question is among the oldest and most perplexing metaphysical issues. Contemporary discussions of it are burgeoning, but there is a wide difference in attitudes towards it between philosophers in the analytic and the continental traditions. Through a careful analysis of the thought of Thomas Aquinas, this outstanding book clarifies and resolves some of the current controversies. Using the important new light his work sheds on Aquinas's foundational metaphysics, Patrick Zoll advances significantly the contemporary discussion of being. In consequence, he also succeeds in building an impressive bridge between analytic and continental approaches to this metaphysical question." Eleonore Stump, Robert J. Henle Professor of Philosophy, Saint Louis University

"The philosophical question of existence, or of what it is for things to exist, is nearly as old as the discipline of philosophy itself. However, the topic is addressed in new and intellectually rigorous ways in recent analytic philosophy. This excellent book argues convincingly that in this contemporary context, Aquinas' treatment of existence is of surprising relevance, decisive importance, and conceptual acuity. Aquinas rightly sees that existence cannot be either a nature (since existence is common to all natures) or a mere property. What it is, then, for things to exist? In a way that is at once clear and accessible as well as thorough and reasonable, Patrick Zoll explores this question in such a way as to cast great light on a contemporary debate, based on wisdom of the past, and a remarkable renewal of understanding of Aquinas for today." Fr. Thomas Joseph White, OP, Rector of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas (Angelicum), Rome

"Zoll provides a valuable, independent, and innovative research contribution to metaphysics. He asks the question - "what is it for that which exists to exist, i.e., what does the existence of an object consist in?" He canvasses five contemporary views and compares them to a Thomistic view, finding, in the end, that the ontological scorecard favors Thomism. Analytic metaphysicians and students of scholastic philosophy both have a great deal to learn from this important book." Timothy J. Pawl, Professor of Philosophy, University of St. Thomas

"Für analytisch geprägte Thomistinnen und Thomisten ist sie Pflichtlektüre. Es bleibt zu hoffen, dass sie auch unter
nicht-thomistischen Philosophinnen und Philosophen in der analytischen Diskussion rezipiert wird. Die Chancen
dafür sind gut, denn dem Verf. kommt das große Verdienst zu, dass er thomistische Sichtweisen in einer nicht-dogmatischen dogmatischen,
für die analytische Gegenwartsphilosophie nachvollziehbaren Weise erklärt und effektiv verteidigt." Åke Wahlberg in: Zeitschrift für Theologie und Philosophie, 2024, H. 2

About the Author

Patrick Zoll, Munich School of Philosophy, Munich.