Metaphysics or Ontology?

"Metaphysics or Ontology?"
Piotr Jaroszyński, Catholic University of Lublin
Metaphysics or Ontology? treats the evolution of the object of metaphysics from being, to the concept of being, to, finally, the object (thought). Possible being must be non-contradictory, but an object of thought includes anything a human being can think, including contradictions and nothingness. When the concept of being, or object of thought, replaces existence as the object of metaphysics, it becomes something other than metaphysics—ontology, or something beyond ontology. However, ontology cannot examine existence because it only investigates concepts and possibility. Only classical metaphysics investigates reality qua reality. Metaphysics or Ontology? masterfully treats the history of this controversy and many other important metaphysical questions raised over the centuries.

http://www.brill.com/products/book/metaphysics-or-ontology

Foreword
Robert Delfino
Preface

Introduction

Part 1: On the Origin of Metaphysics

1 From Sophía to Philosophía
2 From Philosophy (φιλοσοφία) to Meta-physics (τὰ μeτà τὰ φυσικά)
3 From ta metá ta physiká to Metaphysics
Commentaries: The Assimilation and Continuity of Culture
4 The Autonomy of Metaphysics
5 Ontology in the Middle Ages?
Part 1 Summary

Part 2: The Rise of Ontology

6 Descartes and Malebranche—The Return of Augustinianism
7 British Philosophy: The Marginalization of Metaphysics
8 The Founders of Ontology: From Lorhard to Clauberg
9 Ontology before Metaphysics: From Wolff to Kant
10 Logic as Ontology: Hegel
11 The Apotheosis of Mathematics: Bolzano, Frege, and Meinong
12 Phenomenology apart from Metaphysics: Husserl, Ingarden, Heidegger
13 Metaphysics as Ontology: Nicolai Hartmann
14 Analytic Philosophy: A Metaphysics of Conceptual Schemata
15 Metaphysics or Ontology of Process?
16 Negative Ontology: Adorno
17 Postmoderism: The End of Metaphysics, or the End of Ontology?
Part 2 Summary

Part 3: Metaphysics or Ontology: Disputed Questions

18 Being or the Concept of Being?/b>
The Term ‘Being’ and Its Meaning
Being and the Apprehension of Being

19 Real Being or Possible Being?
On the Principle of Identity and Non-Contradiction
Possibility, Potency, and Real Essence: Aristotle
Toward Possible Essence
The Concept of Being and Possible Being: From Duns Scotus to Suárez
Possible Being and Theology

20 Existence: Act or Modus?
Existence: Etymology of the Term
Did Aristotle Know the Difference between Essence and Existence?
What Did Al-Farabi Discover?
Existence as the Act of Being—Thomas Aquinas
Existence is a Mode of Essence—Duns Scotus
Suárez, the Heir of Scotus
The Logical Transformation of Existence: Wolff

21 Essence Instead of Being
The Etymology of the Word ‘Essence’
Essence in Itself—Al Farabi and Avicenna
Essence Reinstated to Reality—Thomas Aquinas
Essence apart from Reality—Duns Scotus
Essence according to Suárez: The Return to Duns Scotus
Essence that is Real because It is Possible: Clauberg and Wolff
Kant: Separation from Essence
Hegel: The Absolutization of Essence
Essence in Phenomenology
Heidegger—Illusory Critique of Essence

22 Ontology: Unreal Reality

23 Ontology and the Object
Object: Etymology and Terminology
The Object and the Knowledge of Being in Metaphysics
The Object Instead of Being: Ontology
Kant—The Creation of the Object
Hegel—Objectivism without Realism
Meinong: The Theory of the Object Instead of Ontology

24 Intentionality: Outside of Reality
Intentionality: The Etymology of the Word
The Theological Context
The Philosophical Context

25 Ontology and the Subject
Subject: Etymology of the Word
The Subject in Metaphysics
From Descartes to Leibniz
Kant—Creator of the Philosophy of the Subject

26 Ontology and System
System: Etymology and Pre-Philosophical Meaning
System in Ancient Philosophy
System as Organized Knowledge
A System that Makes Reality: Hegel and Schelling
Whether Suárez was the Author of the First System of Metaphysics, and if so, in What Sense
What Sort of Realistic Metaphysics?
Critique of Philosophy as a System—But What Sort of System?
Ontology and Logical Systems

27 Univocity or Analogy?

28 Metaphysics, Ontology, Onto-Theology?

Part 3 Summary

Conclusion

Bibliography
Index of Names
Index of Subjects