Jeremy Dunham

Pauline Phemister

According to the received view, Kant’s critical revolution put an end to the kind of metaphysics of which Leibniz’s ‘Monadology’ is the example par excellence. This volume challenges Kant’s claim by providing a far more nuanced version of philosophy’s ‘post-Kantian’ tradition that spans from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century and brings to light a rich tradition of new ‘monadologists’, many of whom have been unjustifiably forgotten by contemporary historians of philosophy. Through this complex dialogue, monadology is shown to be a remarkably fecund hypothesis, with many possible variations and developments. The volume’s focus on monadology exposes the depth and breadth of the post-Kantian period in an original and previously unexplored way and opens up numerous avenues for future research. Crucially, however, this volume not only shows that monadological metaphysics did continue after Kant but also asks the critical question of whether it should have done so. Consequently, the question of whether monadological metaphysics could also have a future is shown to be relevant in a way that was previously almost inconceivable. This book was originally published as a special issue of the British Journal for the History of Philosophy.

Monadologies

Iain Hamilton Grant

Sean Watson

Idealism is philosophy on a grand scale, combining micro and macroscopic problems into systematic accounts of everything from the nature of the universe to the particulars of human feeling. In consequence, it offers perspectives on everything from the natural to the social sciences, from ecology to critical theory. Heavily criticised by the dominant philosophies of the 20th Century, Idealism is now being reconsidered as a rich and untapped resource for contemporary philosophical arguments and concepts. This volume provides a comprehensive portrait of the major arguments and philosophers in the Idealist tradition. The book demonstrates how Idealist philosophy provides a fruitful way of understanding contemporary issues in metaphysics, the philosophy of science, political philosophy, scientific theory and critical social theory.

Jeremy Dunham

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