Overview

"No philosophical idea, no matter how small, can live alone. Ideas always gain their force, power, and life from their surroundings - their ""ecosystem."" The ecosystem of ideas defended in this book comes from the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle and his medieval interpreter, Thomas Aquinas. The ongoing relevance of their philosophical thought to twenty-first century issues is opened up in fascinating ways in this book. Life, the Universe, and Everything is the product of thirty years of teaching introductory courses in philosophy. Assuming no prior background, it only requires of readers an enquiring mind and a willingness to think carefully. An ideal guide to the big questions we face."

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9780718892739

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Has modern science made philosophy obsolete? According to Ric Machuga, a thread of answer exists, coming from Aristotle and reinterpreted by Thomas Aquinas. He converses with modern thinkers such as Newton, Darwin and Galileo to show that faith and reason can coexist. What does it mean to be human? Is language relevant for our sense of reality? Is there a God, and if so, how is that He allows the existence of evil? Machuga undertakes to answer these fundamental questions with a deliberately synthetic approximation. He tackles the problems with the Aristotelian method, treating them with logic and reason, and draws a philosophical line of thought from Plato and Socrates to Descartes and Nietzsche. In a book that is the result of years directing introduction to philosophy classes, he demonstrates that Newton's and Darwin's reasoning was not fundamentally different from that of the classical philosophers. To study the universe in a scientific way does not mean that we have to endorse the narrow conception of science as positivism upheld it. Dialogo Filosofico, May/August 2012 'The book's text is refreshingly nontechnical, and it would make an excellent companion for undergraduate teaching ... And those who hold that metaphysics is a bunch of illogical non-sense are unlikely to accept that the ecumenical system-building on display here is a valid form of reasoning. Yet then again, one can hold either of these positions position and still value Machuga's efforts as a heuristic. And on that front the book is given the highest recommendation.' Gary Slater, The Expository Times, Volume 125, Number 11, August 2014 Life, the Universe, and Everything presumes no prior knowledge in his defence of Aristotelian theory and its interpretation by Aquinas. Church Times, (5 September 2014)

Has modern science made philosophy obsolete? According to Ric Machuga, a thread of answer exists, coming from Aristotle to be reinterpreted by Thomas Aquinas. He converses with modern thinkers such as Newton, Darwin and Galileo to show that faith and reason can coexist. What does it mean to be human? Is language relevant for our sense of reality? Is there a God, and if so, how is that He allows the existence of evil? With a synthetic approximation, Machuga undertakes to answer these fundamental questions. He tackles the problems with the Aristotelian method, treating them with logic and reason, and draws a philosophical line of thoughts from Plato and Socrates to Descartes and Nietzsche. In a book that is the result of years directing classes of introduction to philosophy, he demonstrates that Newton and Darwin's reasoning was fundamentally not different from the classical philosophers' one. To study the universe in a scientific way does not mean that we have to endorse the narrow conception of science as positivism upheld it. Dialogo Filosofico, May/August 2012 The book's text is refreshingly nontechnical, and it would make an excellent companion for undergraduate teaching - And those who hold that metaphysics is a bunch of illogical non-sense are unlikely to accept that the ecumenical system-building on display here is a valid form of reasoning. Yet then again, one can hold either of these positions position and still value Machuga's efforts as a heuristic. And on that front the book is given the highest recommendation. Gary Slater, The Expository Times, Volume 125, Number 11, August 2014

Has modern science made philosophy obsolete? According to Ric Machuga, a thread of answer exists, coming from Aristotle to be reinterpreted by Thomas Aquinas. He converses with modern thinkers such as Newton, Darwin and Galileo to show that faith and reason can coexist. What does it mean to be human? Is language relevant for our sense of reality? Is there a God, and if so, how is that He allows the existence of evil? With a synthetic approximation, Machuga undertakes to answer these fundamental questions. He tackles the problems with the Aristotelian method, treating them with logic and reason, and draws a philosophical line of thoughts from Plato and Socrates to Descartes and Nietzsche. In a book that is the result of years directing classes of introduction to philosophy, he demonstrates that Newton and Darwin's reasoning was fundamentally not different from the classical philosophers' one. To study the universe in a scientific way does not mean that we have to endorse the narrow conception of science as positivism upheld it. Dialogo Filosofico, May/August 2012

Author Information

Ric Machuga has taught philosophy and in the Honor Program at Butte College for thirty years. He is the author of In Defense of the Soul(2002) and numerous pieces for Books and Culture.

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