Synopses & Reviews
The nature of persons is a perennial topic of debate in philosophy, currently enjoying something of a revival. In this volume for the first time metaphysical debates about the nature of human persons are brought together with related debates in philosophy of religion and theology. Fifteen specially written essays explore idealist, dualist, and materialist views of persons, discuss specifically Christian conceptions of the value of embodiment, and address four central topics in philosophical theology: incarnation, resurrection, original sin, and the trinity.
Review
"The papers that make up the book are generally of high quality.... The book does not lack for intricate and often original arguments that speak for (or in some cases against) what some will regard as 'unverifiable' or 'undecidable' claims."--William R. Carter, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
Synopsis
The nature of persons is a perennial topic of debate in philosophy, currently enjoying something of a revival. In this volume for the first time metaphysical debates about the nature of human persons are brought together with related debates in philosophy of religion and theology. Fifteen specially written essays explore idealist, dualist, and materialist views of persons, discuss specifically Christian conceptions of the value of embodiment, and address four central topics in philosophical theology: incarnation, resurrection, original sin, and the trinity.
Table of Contents
Three Introductory Questions,
Dean ZimmermanIdealism
1. Idealism Vindicated, Robert M. Adams
2. The Self and Time, Howard Robinson
Dualism
3. A Neglected Cartesian Argument for Dualism, John Hawthorne
4. Materialism and Christian Belief, Alvin Plantinga
5. From Mental/Physical Identity to Substance Dualism, Richard Swinburne
6. Ghosts Are Chilly, W. D. Hart and Takashi Yagisawa
7. 'Cartesian Psychophysics', Hong Yu Wong
Materialism
8. A Materialist Ontology of the Human Person, Peter van Inwagen
9. I Am Not An Animal!, Hud Hudson
Embodiment and the Value of Persons
10. On the Intrinsic Value of Human Persons, Philip L. Quinn
11. Persons and the Natural Order, Lynne Rudder Baker
Personhood in Christian Doctrine
12. The Word Made Flesh: Dualism, Physicalism, and the Incarnation, Trenton Merricks
13. The Tree of Life: Agency and Immortality in a Metaphysics Inspired by Quantum Theory, Peter Forrest
14. The Metaphysics of Original Sin, Michael Rea
15. Modes without Modalism, Brian Leftow