Keith Ward: More than Matter?

What Humans Really Are

Lion Hudson, 2010     Amazon.com

Book Description:

“The question of what it is to be a human person is the biggest intellectual question of our day.” Keith Ward has taught philosophy and theology in British universities for the past 40 years, and he is now weighing in on a major intellectual battle: whether human persons are purely materialistic – nothing but matter – or whether there is another, deeply valuable part of us, which transcends our bodies in nature and moral worth: the soul. For centuries philosophers have debated the question, but the battle has taken the limelight through the works of the New Atheists. In this book Professor Ward guides the reader through a panoply of thinkers and traditions, arguing that there is more to humanity than bodies. In fact, he argues, there is more to the entire universe than the naked eye perceives. (And contrary to the New Atheist assertions, there are good philosophical arguments to back this up.)

About the Author:

Keith Ward is Regius Professor of Divinity Emeritus at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of the British Academy. A well-known broadcaster and presenter, his work straddles the boundaries between science, religion and philosophy, while his career has addressed topics from materialism to medical ethics.  His work in these fields is internationally respected, and he is today known as one of Britain’s foremost philosopher-theologians.

JOB’s Comment:

See my discussion of Keith Ward’s analysis of materialism in the Idealism category. Ward will be the keynote speaker at the 12th International Conference on Persons in Lund, Sweden, August 6-12.