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Throughout more than forty years of distinguished teaching and scholarship, James W. Felt has been respected for the clarity and economy of his prose and for his distinctive approach to philosophy. The seventeen essays collected in Adventures in Unfashionable Philosophy reflect Felt's encounters with fundamental philosophical problems in the spirit of traditional metaphysics but updated with modern concerns.
Among the main themes of the volume are: the enrichment of Thomistic philosophy through engagement with modern philosophers, Whitehead and Bergson, in particular; considerations of metaphysical method and its effect on philosophic conclusions; the development of a nuanced epistemological realism; and the relation of possibility to actuality and of time to experience.
“Adventures in Unfashionable Philosophy by James W. Felt is a collection of essays written over a forty year period. . . . This book will be especially valuable to the reader familiar with Whitehead and Aquinas. Adventures in Unfashionable Philosophy will be an excellent companion to the other books published by Felt.” —Catholic Library World
"There is not only a magisterial knowledge of the history of philosophy to be found in Felt's work, there is more importantly a concrete sense of the personal struggle that is always present when philosophy is done at its best. One hears a distinctive voice in all of the essays of the collection, the voice of a teacher anxious to share ideas that have animated his own philosophical development." —Brian Martine, University of Alabama, Huntsville
"Felt makes no concessions to the current unfashionable status of classical metaphysics. With justified confidence in the foundational importance of the discipline, and in dialog with some of its most famous practitioners, he explores and advances many of its perennial themes in essays exemplary in their clarity of reasoning and expression. Highly recommended!" —Jorge Nobo, Washburn University
"Adventures in Unfashionable Philosophy is equivalently James Felt’s intellectual autobiography. In a series of essays written over a period of forty years and now republished with introductory self-critical comments, Felt records his journey from a youthful enthusiasm for the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, his conversion to the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas and in recent years his efforts to come up with a creative synthesis of the major insights of both Aquinas and Whitehead. One does not have to agree with all his conclusions, but everyone should admire the dispassionate way in which he analyzes and critiques both systems for their relative strengths and weaknesses." —Joseph A. Bracken, S.J., Xavier University
"Adventures in Unfashionable Philosophy does indeed lie off the beaten path. To deal straightforwardly today (as its author does) with God, the self, freedom, and the meaning of human life is not only unfashionable: it is considered terminally naive. James Felt, however, is not naive. His clear, careful thought breathes new life into old problems, providing fresh insights where traditional approaches have failed." —Pete A. Y. Gunter, University of North Texas
James W. Felt, S.J., is professor emeritus of Philosophy at Santa Clara University. He has published a number of books, including Human Knowing: A Prelude to Metaphysics (University of Notre Dame Press, 2005) and Aims: A Brief Metaphysics for Today (University of Notre Dame Press, 2007).