Urbas's fine book restores to the reading of Emerson its historical context, which serves as a corrective of the narrow, epistemological readings popular in the last half century. Emerson's revival now needs the goading that this book provides to remember there is far more to his philosophy than was discussed in the last generation. Urbas's fine book provides new historical research, bringing to bear on the interpretation of Emerson important sources that have been neglected by philosophers and overlooked even in the genuinely historical studies of his thought. Understanding Emerson as a writer, poet, lecturer, cultural icon, or human being depends upon understanding his reading of Hegel, Kant, Schelling, and Hume to Coleridge, Victor Cousin and other outright metaphysicians. Urbas handle this difficult material and integrates it into the interpretation of Emerson to everyone's benefit. That is a very great service. Urbas defends a new thesis about how Emerson's metaphysics ought to be understood, both historically and in light of metaphysics as an on-going discipline. Emerson is a "causationist" in a special and difficult sense.

This insight will lead to a reconsideration of other metaphysicians who were influenced by Emerson, such as Peirce and Dewey and Royce. The causationist interpretation will also open up new comparative work between Emerson and South Asian philosophies, including the traditional schools of Buddhism, which is timely for our age.