The External World

One of Europe's leading realist philosophers restores the role of the external world to modern philosophy Since the 1780s, Western philosophy has been largely under the spell of Immanuel Kant's transcendental philosophy. In this book, Maurizio Ferraris offers a number of important criticisms of Kant, anticipating the related critiques made by the Speculative Realists. The first part, originally published in 2001, lays the foundations of Ferraris' New Realism, anticipating the realist turn characteristic of 21st century philosophy. The second, written in 2021, outlines a complete metaphysical theory of realism based on the notion of hysteresis, the ability of effects to survive even when their causes have ceased to exist. Maurizio Ferraris is Full Professor of Theoretical Philosophy at the University of Turin and is the President of Labont, Center for Ontology. Sarah De Sanctis is an academic translator specialising in philosophy.