Forms of Thought

Sadly, E. J. Lowe passed away on 5 January 2014. His latest book, Forms of Thought: A Study in Philosophical Logic, certainly extends the impressive contributions he has made to philosophy. In the book, Lowe explores issues of reference, identity, modality, and conditionals. Since the arguments of each chapter are self-contained, readers interested in particular topics can skip large sections of the book. Since many of the chapters brilliantly defend minority positions on major philosophical topics, Lowe's work is certainly valuable when read in this manner. Yet, the book is significantly more important when taken as a whole. Recently, many philosophers have become attracted to a neo-Aristotelian metaphysics. Instead of seeing objects as only contingently possessing the powers that they do because of the way the laws of nature are, neo-Aristotelians place powers back into the objects. Objects do what they do because they are what they are. Since the main attraction of the neo-Aristotelian metaphysics stems from dissatisfaction with standard accounts of modality and laws of nature, much of the work defending the neo-Aristotelian position focuses upon those topics. Lowe's work, however, suggests that the neo-Aristotelian position may have significantly broader repercussions for philosophy.

Aesthetics · Epistemology · Identity (music) · Metaphysics · Modality (human–computer interaction) · Artificial Intelligence · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Computer Science · Philosophy · Philosophy and Theoretical Science

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