Unfortunately this is only the second half of Dallas’s lecture for the day. In the first half, he discussed Thomas Aquinas, concluding the historical survey he began in the last lecture on essence and existence. Our recording begins with A.E. Taylor, the British idealist, and his understanding of existence as necessarily consistent. The reading assigned is Taylor’s Elements of Metaphysics Book II, Chapters 1-3, which can be found here.
Idealism may not seem to be very tempting in your part of the world but it is a view which ebbs and flows in human history. A good deal of so-called “Eastern thought” is idealist in orientation. When Dallas Willard says he is a metaphysical realist, it is metaphysical idealism which, among other things, is in the cross hairs. If you’re going to call yourself a realist, it might be a good idea to have an idea of what you’re not.