Lorenz B. Puntel

In this masterful work, leading German philosopher Lorenz B. Puntel answers the primordial question of philosophy: "Why is there Being at all and not absolutely nothing?" Considering the history of philosophy from Parmenides through to Heidegger and beyond, Puntel charges philosophy with persistently failing to adequately confront the question of Being. In response, Puntel sets out a systematic philosophy to rival Hegel's Science of Logic and Whitehead's Process and Reality. In two parts, the book first surveys the history of Western philosophy through the theoretical framework of Structural-Systematic Philosophy (SSP), which unites continental philosophy's comprehensiveness with the precision and linguistic rigor of the analytic tradition. Analysing all of the major stages in the “forgetfulness of Being” in Western philosophy, Puntel establishes a dialogue with a vast number of thinkers and movements in the history of philosophy, including Plato, Aquinas, Duns Scotus, Francisco Suarez, Christian Wolff, Leibniz, Hegel, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, W.O. Quine, Peter van Inwagen, Kit Fine, Alexius Meinong, and Jean-Luc Marion. The second part develops the methodical question of a systematic theory of Being. Puntel sets out a universal metaphysics, introducing concepts of world, existence, and types of beings. Moreover, he examines the plurality of possible worlds, the disclosure of Being, and modern philosophies of subjectivity since Kant, including the analytic philosophies of Robert Brandom and Ernst Tugendhat. The book culminates in a theory of Being and explains the relation of Being to the concept of God. Being and Nothing is the third in Puntel's trilogy comprising Structure and Being (2008) and Being and God (2011), and is a book that will appeal to all those with an interest in the history of philosophy, continental philosophy, theology, and analytic philosophy.

The Primordial Question of Philosophy

Being and Nothing

A Theoretical Framework for a Systematic Philosophy

Structure and Being

Alan White

Being and God argues that defensible philosophical theorization concerning the topic “God” is both possible and necessary within the framework of an adequate systematic philosophy—which must include a theory of Being—but is not possible in the absence of such a framework. The book provides critiques of philosophical approaches to this topic that have not relied on such frameworks; targets include the most important and influential treatments presented by historical, contemporary analytic, and contemporary continental philosophers. The book also further develops the systematic framework presented in Puntel’s Structure and Being (2008), extending a line of argumentation to show that the absolutely necessary dimension of Being is, when more fully explicated, appropriately named “God.”

A Systematic Approach in Confrontation with Martin Heidegger, Emmanuel Levinas, and Jean-Luc Marion

Being and God

English summary: Lorenz B. Puntel presents a systematic philosophy that is understood as a theory of the most universal structures of the universe of discourse. It is based on two fundamental theses: firstly that all statements and all theories emerge only within theoretical frameworks, and secondly that the task of systematic philosophy is to articulate the dimension of structurality and then to put it into relation to a dimension of actuality, of being. The author explains the concept of the theoretical framework by concentrating on logic and mathematics, the philosophy of science, and the fundamental disciplines of semantics (including the theory of truth) and ontology. He does a thorough analysis of three types of fundamental structures: formal (logical and mathematical), semantic and ontological structures. German description: Lorenz B. Puntel bietet eine struktural-systematische Philosophie im Grundriss. Er halt an der grossen Idee der Philosophie als einer Konzeption des Ganzen der Wirklichkeit fest, prazisiert aber diese Idee, indem er die Philosophie als Theorie der allgemeinsten Strukturen des universe of discourse definiert. Zwei Grundgedanken sind fur die Entwicklung der so verstandenen Philosophie bestimmend: Der Gedanke, dass alle Aussagen bzw. alle einzelnen Theorien nur in einem Theorierahmen moglich sind, und der Gedanke, dass es darauf ankommt, die Dimension der Strukturalitat herauszuarbeiten und sie in Beziehung zur Dimension des Wirklichen (des Seins) zu setzen. Der Autor erlautert ausfuhrlich den auf R. Carnap zuruckgehende Begriff des Theorierahmens unter Beachtung der formalen Wissenschaften (Logik und Mathematik), der Wissenschaftstheorie, der Grunddisziplinen der Semantik (speziell der Wahrheitstheorie) und der Ontologie. Es werden drei Arten von fundamentalen Strukturen analysiert: die formalen (logischen und mathematischen), die semantischen und die ontologischen Strukturen. Eines der Ergebnisse dieser Untersuchungen ist eine neue semantische und ontologische Theorie.

Lorenz B. Puntel

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