Metaphysical Disputation I

"Suárez's Metaphysical Disputations are the crowning achievement of Renaissance Aristotelianism, and here for the first time we have a translation of the first part of that massive work, explaining what metaphysics is and why it should be studied. Duarte carefully reconstructs the Latin text and provides a scrupulously faithful facing translation. This is philosophical scholarship of the highest order."—Robert Pasnau, University of Colorado-Boulder

"This is an excellent annotated translation of the first of the Metaphysical Disputations of the important scholastic philosopher and theologian Francisco Suárez. The volume includes a version of the Latin text that takes into account variations among the different editions of this work. There is also a comprehensive introduction that provides a helpful entry into the world of late scholastic metaphysics by way of a contextualized consideration of the details of the arguments in Suárez's opening disputation."—Tad Schmaltz, University of Michigan

"Judged by the quality of its translation alone, this work is already a remarkable scholarly accomplishment: clear, accurate, and philosophically informed. This work is, however, much more than a simple translation: Duarte has done serious critical work on the text itself, making hundreds of emendations and corrections, thereby bringing us closer to Suárez's intended meaning than we have been since the original publication of his magnum opus. In addition, Duarte has prefaced the work with a masterly introduction, economical and authoritative in equal measure. Duarte's work is a tour de force sure to set the standard for generations to come."—Christopher Shields, University of Notre Dame

"This book is a major contribution to the history of philosophy, and in particular to the study of Renaissance and Early Modern metaphysics Duarte's translation is excellent, careful, and intelligent."—Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

"Suárez published 54 metaphysical disputations, each one a book-length treatise in its own right. Although English translations have been appearing with impressive regularity, Duarte's new volume deserves special celebration, not just because it finally tackles the first disputation, but because it sets a whole new scholarly standard for how the task should be done."—Oxford Studies in Medieval Philosophy