Collected Works Of Samuel Alexander

This 5-volume collection provides all the major philosophical writings of philosopher Samuel Alexander (1859-1938). Alexander was one of the most distinguished and interesting philosophers of the turn of the century, and among the few modern thinkers to develop a comprehensive metaphysical system. A pioneer in modernizing the discipline by recognizing the philosophical significance of contemporary developments in biology, psychology and evolutionary theory, much of his work is concerned with relating philosophy to discoveries in experimental science. He also wrote in later life on aesthetics and literature. A friend of some of the greatest names in philosophy at the time, F. H. Bradley, Bernard Bosanquet, C. Lloyd Morgan, Leslie Stephen and G. F. Stout, Alexander nonetheless developed a bold and innovative philosophy of his own.

The collection begins with Moral Order and Progress, in which Alexander develops a sophisticated evolutionary theory of ethics. Showing the influence of the idealism dominant in Oxford at the time, it is considered a landmark work in British moral theory. Alexander's move away from idealism towards Darwinian evolutionism found full expression in his major publication, Space, Time and Deity. In this detailed and comprehensive work of speculative metaphysics Alexander expounds the 'emergent evolution' theory for which he is best known, whereby existence is hierarchically arranged and emerges in an ongoing evolutionary process. Beauty and Other Forms of Value, the fourth volume in the set, is a collection of occasional papers and lectures on themes relating to aesthetics and ethics. It includes studies of Valuation, especially of Beauty and of Goodness. The set concludes with Philosophical and Literary Pieces, an excellent compilation of addresses and journal articles published after Alexander's death. Some of Alexander's most interesting philosophical work can be found here, such as 'The Mind of a Dog', 'Dr Johnson as a Philosopher', 'Art and Instinct', 'Value' and 'Spinoza and Time'. Edited by his executor John Laird, the volume includes his extensive Memoir, containing enlightening anecdotes and extracts from correspondence, and a bibliography of Alexander's writings.

This collection provides a welcome opportunity to access Alexander's works, now surprisingly scarce on the second-hand market and even in major libraries. It includes a new introduction by leading twentieth-century philosophy scholar John Slater.

--the first collected works edition of the main realist philosopher of his generation
--important modernizing thinker, bridging philosophy and science
--scarce works, hard to find second-hand or even in major libraries