A Materialist Metaphysics of the Human Person

by Hud Hudson

Overview

Hud Hudson presents an innovative view of the metaphysics of human persons according to which human persons are material objects but not human organisms. In developing his account, he formulates and defends a unique collection of positions on parthood, persistence, vagueness, composition, identity, and various puzzles of material constitution.

The author also applies his materialist metaphysics to issues in ethics and in the philosophy of religion. He examines the implications for ethics of his metaphysical views for standard arguments addressing the moral permissibility of our treatment of human persons and their parts, fetuses and infants, the irreversibly comatose, and corpses. He argues that his metaphysics provides the best foundation in the philosophy of religion for the Christian doctrine of the resurrection of the body.

Hudson addresses a broad range of metaphysical issues, but among his most strikingly original contributions are his defense of the "Partist" view (according to which a material object can exactly occupy multiple, overlapping regions of spacetime) and his argument for the compatibility of Christianity with a materialistic theory of human persons.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501725715
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	10/18/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	21 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Hud Hudson is Professor of Philosophy at Western Washington University and the author of Kant's Compatibilism, also from Cornell.

What People are Saying About This

John P. Hawthorne

A Materialist Metaphysics of the Human Person is filled with imaginative and memorable examples that enhance its value as a source. Hud Hudson engages with a cluster of difficult issues in ontology, provides an overview of the range of positions on the metaphysics of human persons, thinks through difficult methodological issues, and comes up with original ideas.

Editorial Reviews

This book places Hudson at the forefront of work in material composition; it is a 'must' read. This is a well-researched book, technically written and occasionally brilliant.

Religious Studies - J.P. Moreland

"A Materialist Metaphysics of the Human Person is filled with imaginative and memorable examples that enhance its value as a source. Hud Hudson engages with a cluster of difficult issues in ontology, provides an overview of the range of positions on the metaphysics of human persons, thinks through difficult methodological issues, and comes up with original ideas."

John P. Hawthorne

"This book places Hudson at the forefront of work in material composition; it is a 'must' read. This is a well-researched book, technically written and occasionally brilliant."—J.P. Moreland, Talbot School of Theology. Religious Studies, Vol. 39, 2003.

"A Materialist Metaphysics of the Human Person is filled with imaginative and memorable examples that enhance its value as a source. Hud Hudson engages with a cluster of difficult issues in ontology, provides an overview of the range of positions on the metaphysics of human persons, thinks through difficult methodological issues, and comes up with original ideas."—John P. Hawthorne, Syracuse University

"A Materialist Metaphysics of the Human Person is marked by its scope and originality. Hud Hudson makes novel contributions to a number of important philosophical debates. Not only does he address a wide variety of metaphysical questions, but he also has interesting things to say about dilemmas in ethics and the philosophy of religion."—Michael C. Rea, University of Delaware

From the Publisher