An Actology of the Given - Hardcover

by Malcolm Torry (Author)

An actology--introduced by the first book in this series, Actology: Action, Change and Diversity in the Western Philosophical Tradition--is a conceptual structure characterized by action, change, and diversity, and that envisages reality as action in changing patterns. The previous book in this series, Actological Readings in Continental Philosophy, reads a number of continental philosophers through this lens. This new book, An Actology of the Given, takes a somewhat different approach: it explores the concepts of the gift, givenness, giving, and other cognates in the light of reality understood as action in patterns rather than as beings that change: and it does so by discussing some anthropology, the writings of a number of continental philosophers, biblical texts, social policy, and a variety of other givens.

Author Biography

Malcolm Torry is a priest in the Church of England who for thirty-four years served in full-time posts in South London parishes and is now Priest in Charge of St Mary Abchurch in the city of London. Since 1984 he has been heavily engaged in the global basic income debate and has published numerous books, chapters, and articles on basic income. He has written on religious- and faith-based organizations; in 2020 he published his first book of philosophy, Actology: Action, Change and Diversity in the Western Philosophical Tradition; in 2022 he published Mark's Gospel: An Actological Reading; and in 2023 Actological Readings in Continental Philosophy. This is now the fourth book in the Actological Explorations series.