Metaphysics and the Modern World

"This book worthily complements Donald Verene's Moral Philosophy and the Modern World. Reading these works of Verene has a restorative effect in a philosophical sense. We find an invigorating witness to a properly measured confidence in the vocation of philosophy. This current book does not disappoint one on this score. Against often thoughtless rejections and misconceived critiques of metaphysics, this book renews the ancient and ever new perplexities of philosophy. It does this by mindful engagement with a group of great thinkers, ancient and modern, who have been companions in Verene's own participation in the long conversation of the philosophical tradition. An impressive work, seeking the knowledge of 'things human and divine.' Very highly recommended."

--William Desmond, Professor of Philosophy, Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven, Belgium; David Cook Chair in Philosophy, Villanova University, USA



"With the astonishing erudition we have come to expect from him, Professor Verene has produced an extraordinary essay on metaphysics in the European tradition. From Plato and Aristotle, Anselm and Cusanus, Vico and Hegel, to Cassirer and Whitehead, he shows how metaphysics in the sense of thinking the whole, or thinking being, rests upon mythic imagination as mediated by poetry, including both within itself as reformed by reason. He has served us ancient wisdom made fresh and compelling."

--Robert Cummings Neville, Professor of Philosophy, Religion, and Theology,

Boston University; Author of Nurture in Time and Eternity