Aristotle's Metaphysics book Z: the contemporary debate

Metaphysics Book Z, Aristotle's treatment of the notion of substance, has been at the centre of a huge debate over the last fifty years. Scholars have been focusing in particular on a number of issues related to Aristotle's essentialist treatment of substance as well as to his analysis of concrete objects in terms of matter and form (hylomorphism). Such a debate has run parallel to the rediscovery by contemporary philosophers of Aristotle's metaphysics.
Philosophers explored the connections between Aristotle's essentialism and the modern treatment of essence in terms of modality. They also paid a certain attention to the problem of the structure of concrete particulars and to the different ways to account for their identity both in time and through time.
This book offers a survey of the critical debate surrounding Metaphysics Z against the background of contemporary metaphysics. It falls therefore into two parts. In the first, Mauro Mariani presents some modern accounts of essence as well as several views concerning the structure of concrete individuals and their identity.
In the second part, Gabriele Galluzzo takes up Metaphysics Z's main philosophical and interpretative problems. He puts some order into the intricate debate, tracing out the different interpretative lines and assessing their respective philosophical and textual merits.