Metaphysics: The Big Questions

ISBN: 978-1-4051-2585-7
Verlag: Wiley

Buch, Englisch, 656 Seiten

Reihe: Philosophy: The Big Questions

This extensively revised and expanded edition of van Inwagen and Zimmerman's popular collection of classic and contemporary readings in metaphysics now features twenty-two additional selections, and new sections on existence and modality.

The volume poses questions that lead to the deepest issues in traditional metaphysics, including problems about the nature of space and time, the relationship between body and mind, and the freedom of the will. With updated commentary from the editors, this collection is essential reading for those seeking answers to some of the most puzzling questions about the world and our place in it.

Zielgruppe

Undergraduates studying metaphysics.

Autoren/Hrsg.

van Inwagen, Peter

Zimmerman, Dean W.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Metaphysik, Ontologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface to Second Edition.

Introduction: What is metaphysics?

Part I: What are the most general features of the world?

A. What is existence?

B. What is the relationship between an individual and its characteristics?

C. What is time? What is space?

D. How do things persist through changes of parts and properties?

E. How do causes bring about their effects?

Part II: What is our place in the world?

A. How are mind and body related?

B. Is it possible for us to act freely?

Part III: Are there many worlds?

A. Are there worlds other than the actual world?

B. Is there more than one actual world?

Part IV: Why is there a world?.

Über Autor(innen)

Peter van Inwagen is John Cardinal O'Hara Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of The Problem of Evil (2006), Ontology, Identity, and Modality (2001), God, Knowledge, and Mystery: Essays in Philosophical Theology (1995), Metaphysics (1993), Material Beings (1990), and An Essay on Free Will (1983).

Dean Zimmerman is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University. He has published articles on metaphysics in a number of journals and collections, including The American Philosophical Quarterly, Analysis, The Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Mind, The Monist, Nous, The Philosophical Review, and Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. He is also editor of the Oxford Studies in Metaphysics series.