Reading Metaphysics

This collection brings together key contemporary texts in metaphysics and features an interactive commentary which helps readers engage the texts critically and to use them to develop their own views.

• Each text is followed by a detailed commentary, setting it in context
• Includes questions designed to help readers think hard about what the author is saying and why, to think of objections, and to formulate his or her own views
• Aims to improve the reader's ability to engage critically with philosophical texts, and to use them as a springboard for philosophical thought and writing
• Introduces readers to the perennial problems of metaphysics and the ways that different analytic philosophers have approached them

Sources and Acknowledgements viii

Introduction 1

1 Personal Identity 9

Introduction 9

Derek Parfit, ‘Personal Identity’ 13

Commentary on Parfit 30

Marya Schechtman, ‘Personhood and Personal Identity’ 36

Commentary on Schechtman 54

Further Reading 59

Essay Questions 59

2 Free Will 60

Introduction 60

Peter van Inwagen, ‘The Incompatibility of Free Will and Determinism’ 62

Commentary on van Inwagen 75

Daniel Dennett, ‘Could Have Done Otherwise’ (extract from Elbow Room) 82

Commentary on Dennett 93

Further Reading 97

Essay Questions 97

Appendix 98

3 Realism and Anti-realism 100

Introduction 100

Donald Davidson, ‘On the Very Idea of a Conceptual Scheme’ 106

Commentary on Davidson 117

Thomas Nagel, ‘Thought and Reality’ (extract from The View from Nowhere) 125

Commentary on Nagel 139

Further reading 145

Essay questions 145

4 Realism and Nominalism 146

Introduction 146

Michael Devitt, ‘ ‘‘Ostrich Nominalism’’or ‘‘Mirage Realism’’?’ 150

Commentary on Devitt 157

D. M. Armstrong, ‘Against ‘‘Ostrich’’ Nominalism: A Reply to Michael Devitt’ 160

Commentary on Armstrong 170

Further reading 173

Essay questions 174

5 Possible Worlds 175

Introduction 175

David Lewis, extract from Counterfactuals 183

Commentary on Lewis 187

Saul Kripke, extract from Naming and Necessity 192

Commentary on Kripke 197

Further reading 203

Essay questions 203

6 Persistence over Time 204

Introduction 204

David Lewis, extract from On the Plurality of Worlds 209

Commentary on Lewis 212

Sally Haslanger, ‘Endurance and Temporary Intrinsics’ 214

Commentary on Haslanger 220

David Lewis, ‘Tensing the Copula’ 223

Commentary on Lewis 230

Further reading 233

Essay questions 233

Bibliography 234

Index 240

“A book that speaks directly to students. By combining accessible text selections with insightful commentary, clear graphic devices for navigating within each chapter, and thoughtful questions, this new collection provides an invaluable teaching tool for major areas of contemporary metaphysics.”
Dale Jacquette, The Pennsylvania State University

“Reading Metaphysics is the perfect hybrid of an attentively edited anthology and a lucidly instructive textbook. Instead of overwhelming us with dozens of selections, the editors have expertly chosen a small number of contemporary readings, thus giving readers the time to probe deeply into the selected topics and, more importantly, the time to learn how to take apart and interact with a philosophical text. While the readings are well-selected, the true strength of this book lies in the editors’ commentary. Students will leave this book ready, and eager, to take on more metaphysics and teachers will notice a marked improvement in their students’ philosophical ability.”
Andrew P. Mills, Otterbein College

Helen Beebee is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham. She is the author of Hume on Causation (2006) and co-editor, with Julian Dodd, of Truthmakers: The Contemporary Debate (2005).

Julian Dodd is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Manchester. He is the author of Works of Music: An Essay in Ontology (2007) and An Identity Theory of Truth (2000), and co-editor of Truthmakers: The Contemporary Debate (2005).

This collection brings together key contemporary texts in metaphysics. Designed for students and general readers, it has a distinctive pedagogical aim: to enable readers to engage critically with challenging philosophical texts, and thereby use such texts as a springboard for their own philosophical thought and writing.

Each text is followed by a detailed commentary, which puts the author’s views and arguments into context, explains key terms and argumentative moves, and – most importantly – asks a variety of questions. The questions are designed to prompt the reader to think critically about what the author is saying and why she is saying it, to think of objections, and to formulate and justify his or her own views on the topic.

The book includes texts by Kripke, Lewis, Parfit, Armstrong, Nagel, and Dennett, amongst others, and discusses the following topics: free will, personal identity, realism and nominalism, modality, persistence, and realism and anti-realism.