Metaphysics: The Elements

CONTENTS......Page 8
PREFACE......Page 12
Aristotle and the Origins of Metaphysics......Page 18
Aristotle on Being......Page 22
The Current Subject of Metaphysics......Page 25
Existence and Definite Descriptions......Page 28
Logical Fictions and Logical Constructions......Page 31
Russell on Numbers and Classes......Page 34
Ontological Reductionism......Page 37
Russell on Fundamental Existence......Page 39
Russell on Existential Quantification......Page 42
A New Problem about Existence......Page 45
Existence and the World......Page 47
Traditional Arguments for Universals......Page 52
Problems with the Theory of Universals......Page 57
Problems about Particulars......Page 61
The Failure of a Theory......Page 65
Attributes, Facts, and Truth......Page 67
Conceptualism......Page 69
Concluding Remarks......Page 70
Abstract Singular Terms......Page 72
Criteria of Ontological Commitment......Page 76
Propositions and Adverbial Clauses......Page 78
Propositions and Logical Subjects......Page 80
Statements and Beliefs......Page 82
Possibilities and Fictional Objects......Page 85
Other Possibilities......Page 87
Concluding Remarks on Abstracta......Page 89
Continuants and Change......Page 92
The Problem of the Ship of Theseus......Page 97
Problems of Personal Identity......Page 101
Memory, Personality, and Self-Identity......Page 106
Descartes on the Self......Page 110
Cerebral Commisurotomy and Survival after Death......Page 114
Continuants and Events......Page 120
Events and Time......Page 123
Time without Events......Page 126
Space and Causation......Page 129
Causal Laws......Page 135
More on Things and Events......Page 139
Metaphysical Realism and Descriptive Metaphysics......Page 141
Adverbs and Ontology......Page 146
Theories of Truth......Page 150
The Semantic Conception of Truth......Page 152
Truth and Meaning......Page 156
Davidson on Interpretation......Page 158
The Power of Charity......Page 162
Meaning and Indeterminacy......Page 164
Interpretation and Speaker's Meaning......Page 168
Interpretation and Temporal Connectives......Page 170
Truth and Metaphysics......Page 172
The Immediate Objects of Perception......Page 176
Berkeley's Criticism of Locke......Page 179
Existence "In the Mind"......Page 181
Skepticism and Phenomenalism......Page 184
Kant's Metaphysics of Experience......Page 187
Objections to Classical Empiricism......Page 191
A Revision of Classical Empiricism......Page 193
The Mental and the Physical......Page 196
Freedom and Determinism......Page 202
Freedom and Unmoved Moving......Page 204
Explanations of Purposive Behavior......Page 206
The Libertarian Position......Page 207
The Reconciler Position......Page 209
Freedom and Morality......Page 211
Two Conceptions of Freedom......Page 214
The Freedom of Spontaneity......Page 216
NOTES......Page 222
REFERENCES......Page 238
C......Page 246
H......Page 247
O......Page 248
R......Page 249
Z......Page 250