Elements of Metaphysics Routledge Revivals Series

First published in 1903, Taylor endeavours to provide a detailed study of metaphysic as a discipline. Opening with a brief history of metaphysics, the book explores topics including the problem of the metaphysician, the metaphysical method, subdivisions of metaphysics, ontology, reality, cosmology, rational psychology, morality, ethics and religion.

Part 1. General Notations. 1. The Problem of the Metaphysician. 2. The Metaphysical Criterion and the Metaphysical Method. 3. The Sub-Division of Metaphysics. Book II. Ontology: The General Structure of Reality. 1. Reality and Experience. 2. The Systematic Unity of Reality. 3. Reality and its Appearances: The Degrees of reality. 4. The World of Things: Substance, Quality and Relation. 5. The World of Things: Change in Causality. Book III. Cosmology: The Interpretation of Nature. 1. Introductory. 2. The problem of Matter. 3. The Meaning of Law. 4. Space and Time. 5. Some Conditions of Evolution. 6. The Logical Character of Descriptive Science. Book 4. Rational Psychology: The Interpretation of Life. 1. The Logical Character of Psychological Science. 2. The Problem of Soul and Body. 3. The Place of the ‘’Self" in Reality. 4. The Problem of Moral Freedom. 5. Some Metaphysical Implications of Ethics and Religion. 6. Conclusions.