According to Thompson, since Tillich believes that the modern scientific and philosophic views of reality do not provide an adequate ontological foundation for human values, he attempts to convert the present generation to a new philosophy which overcomes this deficiency. The principal "task" of Being and Meaning, says Thompson, is to examine Tillich's new philosophy to determine whether it fulfills the criteria of adequacy, comprehensiveness, coherence, and consistency. Thompson insists that since Tillich feels an urgent need to convert his contemporaries (...) to his philosophy of life, he adopts the style of the rhetorician and thus attempts to persuade others rather than to convince them by logical proof of the truth of particular ideas within his system. "Tillich's Systematic Theology has the character of a belief-system rather than a system of theoretical knowledge". Nevertheless, Thompson indicates that Tillich's philosophy as a whole has an impressive consistency and coherence. However, he contends that Tillich fails to justify particular ideas in his philosophy. (shrink)

First Considerations, says Weiss, “is perhaps my best and last attempt” to describe reality and knowledge. As a consequence of the desire to clarify his own philosophical position, Weiss invited a number of philosophers whom he did not expect to agree with his philosophy to examine it carefully and to present to him their criticisms. Six philosophers responded to the invitation, and their comments, with Weiss’s replies, constitute the second part of the book. In these comments almost all of Weiss’s (...) basic ideas are challenged. Both the criticisms and the replies serve to clarify Weiss’s philosophy. (shrink)

First Considerations, says Weiss, “is perhaps my best and last attempt” to describe reality and knowledge. As a consequence of the desire to clarify his own philosophical position, Weiss invited a number of philosophers whom he did not expect to agree with his philosophy to examine it carefully and to present to him their criticisms. Six philosophers responded to the invitation, and their comments, with Weiss’s replies, constitute the second part of the book. In these comments almost all of Weiss’s (...) basic ideas are challenged. Both the criticisms and the replies serve to clarify Weiss’s philosophy. (shrink)

According to Oppenheim, "The present study aims to bring the American philosopher Josiah Royce out of the shadows that often cover his final decade". More precisely, he contends, it aims to discern and to relate accurately Royce's doctrine and method in his mature philosophy of religion. Even more specifically, says Oppenheim, the study "aims carefully to search out from Royce's The Problem of Christianity his principal and subordinate methods and accurately to identify his human and 'Christian' doctrines as rooted in (...) experience". Oppenheim insists "that the mature Royce identified and carried out, in a generally successful way, both a new and fully human method of philosophizing and a Christian metaphysics of community". Royce's greatest achievement may be his employment of a new method in philosophy of religion. (shrink)