Being in America: Sixty Years of the Metaphysical Society (Value Inquiry Book)

Since its founding in 1950, the Metaphysical Society of America has remained a pluralistic community dedicated to rigorous philosophical inquiry into the most basic metaphysical questions. At each year's conference, the presidential address offers original insights into metaphysical questions. Both the insights and the questions are as perennial as they are relevant to contemporary philosophers. This volume collects eighteen of the finest representatives from those presidential addresses, including contributions from George Allan, Richard Bernstein, Norris Clarke, Vincent Colapietro, Frederick Being in America : on metaphysics and the Metaphysical Society of America -- William Desmond Introduction -- Brian G. Henning, David Kovacs Four-fold art of avoiding questions -- Paul Weiss Problem of the analogy of being -- George Klubertanz Self as source of meaning in metaphysics -- W. Norris Clarke Reality and metaphysics -- Joseph Owens Merleau-Ponty and the renewal of ontology -- Marjorie Grene Metaphysics, critique, and utopia -- Richard J. Bernstein Question of being -- Robert Sokolowski Is metaphysics possible? -- Stanley Rosen Science we are seeking -- Ralph McInerny Practicality of metaphysics -- Frederick Ferré Two faces of science -- Ernan McMullin Are categories invented or discovered? a response to Foucault -- Jorge J.E. Gracia Textuality, reality, and the limits of knowledge -- Nicholas Rescher Metaphysics and language -- John Herman Randall, Jr. Being, immediacy and articulation -- John E. Smith Striving to speak in a human voice : a peircean contribution to metaphysical discourse -- Vincent Colapietro Metaphysics of the good -- Ivor Leclerc Perishable goods -- George Allan Generosity of the good -- Joseph Grange Legacy and future -- Robert C. Neville Bibliography of presidential addresses of the Metaphysical Society of America 1952-2010. Since its founding in 1950, the Metaphysical Society of America has remained a pluralistic community dedicated to rigorous philosophical inquiry into the most basic metaphysical questions. At each year's conference, the presidential address offers original insights into metaphysical questions. Both the insights and the questions are as perennial as they are relevant to contemporary philosophers.This volume collects eighteen of the finest representatives from those presidential addresses, including contributions from George Allan, Richard Bernstein, Norris Clarke, Vincent Colapietro, Frederick Ferré, Jorge J. E. Gracia, Joseph Grange, Marjorie Grene, George Klubertanz, Ivor Leclerc, Ralph McInerny, Ernan McMullin, Joseph Owens, John Herman Randall, Jr., Nicholas Rescher, Stanley Rosen, John E. Smith, and Robert Sokolowski. Also included are Paul Weiss's inaugural address to the Society, an introduction chronicling the history of the Society, and an original Foreword by William Desmond and Epilogue by Robert Neville.