Abstract
This chapter is concerned with the second of the four books of Samuel Alexander’s Space, Time, and Deity, which bears the title “The Categories.” It occupies 164 pages, a fifth of the total. While most systematic metaphysicians treat of categories in some form, it is rare for one to discuss the topic at such length: what we have is practically a treatise within a treatise. Alexander understands categories to be those qualities of space-time that are pervasive and fundamental. A comparative exposition is given of Alexander’s theory of categories, with allusions to Kant and Hegel. It is argued that one distinctive aspect of Alexander’s theory of categories is that it is realist through and through, unlike Kant’s. A critical evaluation is then given of how Alexander describes and infers his list of categories, showing what lessons there are to be learnt for contemporary metaphysics.
Metaphysics, as distinguished from particular sciences, may be regarded as an attempt to describe the ultimate nature of existence and the pervading or pervasive characters of things.
—Alexander 1912, 5
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Notes
- 1.
Page references to STD are given in parentheses in the running text: page numbers only for volume I, in the form “ii nnn” for volume II. Other authors are cited next to or by their names.
References
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Simons, P. (2021). Samuel Alexander’s Categories. In: Fisher, A. (eds) Marking the Centenary of Samuel Alexander's Space, Time and Deity. History of Analytic Philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65121-3_9
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