Contemporary Debates In Metaphysics

In a series of thought-provoking and original essays, eighteen leading philosophers engage in head-to-head debates of nine of the most cutting edge topics in contemporary metaphysics.

• Explores the fundamental questions in contemporary metaphysics in a series of eighteen original essays - 16 of which are newly commissioned for this volume
  
• Features an introductory essay by the editors on the nature of metaphysics to prepare the reader for ongoing discussions
  
• Offers readers the unique opportunity to observe leading philosophers engage in head-to-head debate on cutting-edge metaphysical topics
  
• Provides valuable insights into the flourishing field of contemporary metaphysics

Theodore Sider is Professor of Philosophy at New York University. He is the author of Four-Dimensionalism and (with Earl Conee) Riddles of Existence.

John Hawthorne is Waynflete Professor of Metaphysical Philosophy at the University of Oxford. He is the author of Metaphysical Essays, and has published widely in metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of language, and Leibniz studies.

Dean W. Zimmerman is Associate Professor in the Philosophy department at Rutgers University. He is editor of Oxford Studies in Metaphysics, and author of numerous articles in metaphysics and philosophy of religion.

Notes on contributors.

Introduction.

I. Abstract entities.

1.1 Abstract entities: Chris Swoyer (University of Oklahoma).

1.2 There are no abstract objects: Cian Dorr (University of Pittsburgh).

II. Causation and laws of nature.

2.1 Nailed to Hume’s cross?: John W. Carroll (North Carolina State University).

2.2 Causation and laws of nature: Reductionism: Jonathan Schaffer (University of Massachusetts-Amherst).

III. Modality and possible worlds.

3.1 Concrete possible worlds: Phillip Bricker(University of Massachusetts- Amherst).

3.2 Ersatz possible worlds: Joseph Melia (University of Leeds).

IV. Personal identity.

4.1 People and their bodies: Judith Jarvis Thomson (MIT).

4.2 Persons, bodies, and human beings: Derek Parfit (All Souls College, Oxford).

V. Time.

5.1 The privileged present: defending an “A-theory” of time: Dean Zimmerman (Rutgers University).

5.2 The tenseless theory of time: J. J. C. Smart (Australian National University).

VI. Persistence.

6.1 Temporal parts: Theodore Sider (Rutgers University).

6.2 Three-dimensionalism vs. four-dimensionalism: John Hawthorne (Rutgers University).

VII. Free will.

7.1 Incompatibilism: Robert Kane (University of Texas at Austin).

7.2 Compatibilism, incompatibilism, and impossibilism: Kadri Vihvelin (University of Southern California).

VIII. Mereology.

8.1 The moon and sixpence: a defense of mereological universalism: James van Cleve (University of Southern California).

8.2 Restricted composition: Ned Markosian (Western Washington University).

IX. Meteontology.

9.1 Ontological arguments: interpretive charity and quantifier variance: Eli Hirsch (Brandeis University).

9.2 The picture of reality as an amorphous lump: Matti Eklund (Cornell University).

Index