{"product_id":"the-discovery-of-things-wolfgang-rainer-mann-9780691010205","title":"The Discovery of Things: Aristotle's Categories and Their Context","description":"\u003cp\u003eAristotle's \u003ci\u003eCategories\u003c\/i\u003e can easily seem to be a statement of a na?e, pre-philosophical ontology, centered around ordinary items. Wolfgang-Rainer Mann argues that the treatise, in fact, presents a revolutionary metaphysical picture, one Aristotle arrives at by (implicitly) criticizing Plato and Plato's strange counterparts, the \"Late-Learners\" of the Sophist. As Mann shows, the \u003ci\u003eCategories\u003c\/i\u003e reflects Aristotle's discovery that ordinary items are things (objects with properties). Put most starkly, Mann contends that there were no things before Aristotle. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The author's argument consists of two main elements. First, a careful investigation of Plato which aims to make sense of the odd-sounding suggestion that things do not show up as things in his ontology. Secondly, an exposition of the theoretical apparatus Aristotle introduces in the \u003ci\u003eCategories\u003c\/i\u003e--an exposition which shows how Plato's and the Late-Learners' metaphysical pictures cannot help but seem inadequate in light of that apparatus. In doing so, Mann reveals that Aristotle's conception of things--now so engrained in Western thought as to seem a natural expression of common sense--was really a hard-won philosophical achievement. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Clear, subtle, and rigorously argued, \u003ci\u003eThe Discovery of Things\u003c\/i\u003e will reshape our understanding of some of Aristotle's--and Plato's--most basic ideas.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Wolfgang-Rainer Mann\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 069101020X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780691010205\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Princeton University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/13\/2000\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 224\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.11lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.56d","brand":"Wolfgang-Rainer Mann","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":43925599224063,"sku":"9780691010205","price":110.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_cf5dadb7-5ec3-472f-b2ad-4f354119f1aa.jpg?v=1681078227","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-discovery-of-things-wolfgang-rainer-mann-9780691010205","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}