Description
In fact, metaphysics is ‘first’ only in relation to the other two sciences that Aristotle called theoretical: physics and mathematics. It is the strategic sense of this ‘primacy’ that needs to be examined because what is at issue here is nothing less than the relationship of domination or subservience, conflict or harmony, between philosophy and science. The hypothesis of this book is that philosophy’s attempt to use metaphysics as a way of securing its primacy among the sciences has resulted instead in its subservience: philosophy, once handmaiden to theology (ancilla theologiae), has now become more or less consciously handmaiden to the sciences (ancilla scientiarum). So it is all the more urgent to explore the nature and limits of this primacy and subservience, as this book does through an archaeological investigation of metaphysics.
This important re-reading of the Western philosophical tradition by a leading thinker will be of interest to students and scholars in philosophy, critical theory and the humanities more generally, and to anyone interested in contemporary philosophy and European thought.
Book Information
ISBN 9781509560516
Author Giorgio Agamben
Format Hardback
Page Count 160
Imprint Polity Press
Publisher John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Weight(grams) 312g