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Being and Necessity by A J Rowan

Being and Necessity confronts one of the oldest and most enduring problems in philosophy: the nature of causality and necessity. From antiquity through early modern thought, philosophers wrestled with the grounding of universal and necessary truths. Hume reduced causality to mere habit. Kant attempted a reconstruction through the synthetic a priori. Quine dismantled the analytic-synthetic distinction, and Kripke reframed necessity in terms of the a posteriori. Yet beneath these debates lies a deeper and more foundational question: Are universality and necessity grounded in experience, in language, or in being itself?This book argues for a recovery and reformulation of the classical tradition, where Aristotle and Aquinas held that knowledge begins in sensation yet culminates in the grasp of being as such. From this vantage, the intellect discerns the first principles-identity, non-contradiction, and causality-as universal and necessary features of reality, not constructs imposed by thought. Being and Necessity restores this metaphysical realism and situates the discussion where it properly belongs: within being.This volume is the second book in the series. First Cause established the epistemological and metaphysical foundations for a reformulated synthetic a priori, demonstrating that intelligibility itself requires a self-subsistent First Cause. Building on that foundation, Being and Necessity resolves the false dichotomy between sensibility and intelligibility.Part I revisits Hume’s skepticism, showing that causality is not a contingent psychological habit but something rooted in dependence revealed through experience. Part II examines Kant’s attempt to secure universality and necessity through the mind’s structures, revealing its limits and its dependence on being itself. Part III integrates contemporary analytic insights from Frege, Quine, and Kripke, offering a renewed account of the necessary features of reality. By grounding universality, being, and necessity within a coherent metaphysical framework, Being and Necessity advances a metaphysical realism that opens new horizons for logic, science, and theology.This work is designed for philosophers, theologians, advanced students, and thoughtful readers seeking a rigorous and comprehensive account of necessity, causality, and the foundations of intelligibility.