A collection of essays by fifteen philosophers presenting a thoughtful, introductory guide to choosing a philosophy for living an examined and meaningful life. Socrates famously said "the unexamined life is not worth living," but what does it mean to truly live philosophically? This thought-provoking, wide-ranging collection brings together essays by fifteen leading philosophers reflecting on what it means to live according to a philosophy of life. From Eastern philosophies (Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism) and classical Western philosophies (such as Aristotelianism and Stoicism), to the four major religions, as well as contemporary philosophies (such as existentialism and effective altruism), each contributor offers a lively, personal account of how they find meaning in the practice of their chosen philosophical tradition. Together, the pieces in How to Live a Good Life provide not only a beginner's guide to choosing a life philosophy but also a timely portrait of what it means to live an examined life in the twenty-first century. A VINTAGE ORIGINAL

Vine Deloria Jr., named one of the most influential religious thinkers in the world by Time, shares a framework for a new vision of reality. Bridging science and religion to form an integrated idea of the world, while recognizing the importance of tribal wisdom, The Metaphysics of Modern Existence delivers a revolutionary view of our future and our world.

This book, titled Metaphysics and New Life, covers the contents of the education, while the chapters that are not included in the book are the questions asked by the participants and the answers I gave to them - (the question-answer part is not included in the book since it belongs only to the participants as the right owner). What is the purpose of these lessons? Everyone wants to start a new life, but they cannot figure out where, how and how to start in general. A new life actually consists of creating a new form, shape.

Lynne Rudder Baker presents and defends a unique account of the material world: the Constitution View. In contrast to leading metaphysical views that take everyday things to be either non-existent or reducible to micro-objects, the Constitution View construes familiar things as irreducible parts of reality. Although they are ultimately constituted by microphysical particles, everyday objects are neither identical to, nor reducible to, the aggregates of microphysical particles that constitute them. The result is genuine ontological diversity: people, bacteria, donkeys, mountains and microscopes are fundamentally different kinds of things - all constituted by, but not identical to, aggregates of particles. Baker supports her account with discussions of non-reductive causation, vagueness, mereology, artefacts, three-dimensionalism, ontological novelty, ontological levels and emergence. The upshot is a unified ontological theory of the entire material world that irreducibly contains people, as well as non-human living things and inanimate objects.

In this astonishing and profound work, an irreverent sleuth traces the riddleof existence from the ancient world to modern times.

Christian tradition has largely held three theological affirmations on the resurrection of the physical body. Firstly, that bodily resurrection is not a superfluous hope of afterlife. Secondly, there is immediate post-mortem existence in Paradise. Finally, there is numerical identity between pre-mortem and post-resurrection human beings. The same tradition also largely adheres to a robust doctrine of The Intermediate State, a paradisiacal disembodied state of existence following the biological death of a human being. This book argues that these positions are in fact internally inconsistent, and so a new theological model for life after death is required. The opening arguments of the book aim to show that The Intermediate State actually undermines the necessity of bodily resurrection. Additionally, substance dualism, a principle The Intermediate State requires, is shown to be equally untenable in this context. In response to this, the metaphysics of the afterlife in Christian theology is re-evaluated, and after investigating physicalist and constitutionist replacements for substance dualist metaphysics, a new theory called "Eschatological Presentism" is put forward. This model combines a broadly Thomistic hylemorphic metaphysics with a novel theory of Time. This is an innovative examination of the doctrine of life after death. It will, therefore, be of great interest to scholars of analytic theology and philosophy of religion.

or those individuals who consider themselves to be en route, that is, to be on a philosophical or theological journey as opposed to already having arrived at a resolution to their cosmic-scale issues, this investigation may prove helpful. God and the New Metaphysics examines metaphysical and cosmological proposals for an alternate vision of reality.The title of this work is a deliberate play on physicist Paul Davies'' volume, God and the New Physics. The difference is that whereas his approach is a scientific one, this study comes to the subject of God and cosmology from a philosophical and theological angle, while at the same time remaining sensitive to scientific concerns.The origin of the universe remains a scientific mystery, but once it was under way, additional mysteries surface. There is a gap in our understanding, presently at least, between the world of chemistry and the onset of biology. How life arose from non-life has not been resolved. Then there is also a gap between biology and psychology, namely how an entire host of metaphysical categories arose, or at least the alleged realities to which they point. These include mind, soul, spirit, consciousness, self-consciousness, awareness, and self-awareness. Mysterious too is not only how the world began but how it will end.While the current analysis cannot hope to unravel these mysteries once and for all, it engages the thought of some of those who begin to disentangle us from the metaphysical knots in which we have tied ourselves. In sequential order it will consult the work of Alfred North Whitehead, James Lovelock, Rupert Sheldrake, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, David Bohm, and sample the thought of several others for the insights they can bestow.Endorsements"The perennial mystery of existence has inspired tomes of both scientific and metaphysical speculation over the millennia. In God and the New Metaphysics, Herb Gruning presents a fresh perspective, one that choreographs a dance between Whitehead''s process theology and recent developments in physics, biology, medicine, cosmology, and several other fields. Whether discussing Heraclitus or David Bohm, morphogenetic fields or Gaia theory, Gruning is lucid, articulate, engaging, and provocative. His readers will never think of their universe in the same way again." Stanley Krippner, Ph.D., co-author, Extraordinary Dreams and How to Work with Them, co-editor, Varieties of Anomalous Experience: Examining the Scientific Evidence"This book is a vigorous plea for a new metaphysics capable of revealing being and becoming as the texture of both the world and the nature of God." Maurice Boutin, Ph.D., J.W. McConnell Professor of Philosophy of Religion, McGill University, Montreal, Canada"God and the New Metaphysics is a handy guide (''road map'') for anyone venturing on philosophical excursions into the big questions surrounding the origins of the universe itself, and of life within it. It succinctly summarizes scientific advancements and their implications for the way we view the world, since (as Herb Gruning writes) ''All epistemological activity ... functions worldviewishly.'' In addition to dealing with the development of the philosophy of science in the context of the clashes between science and religion, the author suggests interesting lines of inquiry to help resolve the questions which will remain in the reader''s mind at the end of the book, as they do in philosophy and science to the present day." Francine McCarthy, Professor of Earth Science and Great Books/ Liberal Studies, Brock University"What can abide and what must change in our understanding of God and nature? Walking the ever-shifting boundary lines between religion and contemporary science and drawing on rich resources to be found on both sides, Gruning has written a well-informed, insightful, and adventuresome book, addressing this question. And while refusing to oversimplify, he manages to write lucidly about deep and complex matters." John C. Robertson, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Department of Religious Studies, McMaster University"In lucid and sparkling prose, Herb Gruning provides the inquisitive layperson with a solid summary of the history and present state of the natural sciences, together with a panoply of the most significant meta-scientific reflections on the meaning and import of those sciences for the higher purposes of human life. God and the Mew Metaphysics offers more than a road map through the highways and byways of science, philosophy, and theology. It is a traveler''s guide through adjacent territories that have been explored by other travelers, with lively commentary on the usefulness of the older guidebooks. Above all, it identifies the limits of the previous explorations, and so reveals the openness of the horizons of knowledge, instilling in the reader a sense of further adventure at the edge of the known world." Dr. James Lawler, Philosophy Department, SUNY at Buffalo"The author gives an excellent account of the controversy surrounding science and religion as alternative avenues to truth and argues persuasively how science in general has failed to unravel some of the deep mysteries of the universe such as the origin of the universe and of life, among others.The book makes interesting reading with the author''s critical look at traditional theology with respect to its stand on the nature of god and purpose of creation, and his suggestion for a new direction in this regard along the lines developed by Alfred North Whitehead and others who consider the universe in all its diversity as a Divine Process - a view cosistent with that of modern physics where the cosmic reality is looked upon as a play of cosmic energy. While it is a valuable addition to one''s collection, the book provides useful material for a course in science and religion." Gowdar Veeranna, economist, Winnipeg, Canada