Thursdays, 16.15-18 (with a break), KOL-H-322.

The papers are protected by a password. Ask me for it.

Taking recent discussions of grounding / fundamentality / metaphysical explanation as its starting point, this seminar presents and critically dicusses some new (and, I hope, promising) approaches to classical problems of analytic metaphysics: modality and essence; supervenience; truth, truthmaking and representation; universals, tropes and states of affairs; intrinsic/extrinsic and relational/non-relational; the reducibility of relations; structure and structuralism; "qua objects" and "lesser entities". Participants are expected to read a lot and to like to do their own thinking meticulously.

My evaluation for this course by the students is to be found here and here.

Plan

Bits and pieces

• Buy David Lewis, On the Plurality of Worlds, Oxford: Blackwell, 1986. It's indispensible reading, for almost everything in metaphysics, and arguably the most important work of 20th century philosophy.
• check out the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - most of the articles are excellent!
• check out the Philosophy Compass - most of the articles in the metapyhsics section are quite good.
• check out the Metaphysics section of PhilPapers - most of the literature is there.
• I'm compiling a bibliography on analytic metaphysics in French - any help is greatly appreciated!
• e-course (in French): Quand les choses ont besoin les unes des autres
• e-course (in French): Introduction à la logique
• Ted Sider's bibliographies on modality, persistence, abstract entities and metaontology.

Evaluation for 9 ECTS

Those who wish to receive the 9 ECTS credits should :

• decide on a yes/no question, choose an answer and sketch an argument (step 1)
• send this sketch (1 page) to me before the end of February, and let me suggest some readings [give me 1 week for this]
• read these and write a first draft (step 2)
• send this draft to me (10 pages) before the end of April, and let me ask some questions or suggest some changes [give me 1 week for this]
• write the final draft (step 3)
• send it to me before the end of May, accompanied by this form.

Ideally, each of the three steps should take approx. the same amount of time and effort. The final version should be of approx. 20 pages (52000 signs with spaces).

Evaluation for 3 ECTS

Those who wish to receive the 3 ECTS credits should :

• decide on a yes/no question, choose an answer and sketch an argument (step 1)
• send this sketch (max 1 page) to me before the end of February [give me 1 week for this]
• rewrite the argument in a way that takes into account the comments (step 2)
• send this sketch (max 3 pages) before the end of April, and let me ask some questions or suggest some changes [give me 1 week for this]
• write the final draft (step 3), of max. 5 pages
• send it to me before the end of May, accompanied by this form.

Ideally, each of the three steps should take approx. the same amount of time and effort.

Readings

Introduction: two paradigms of contemporary metaphysics

• Sider, Theodore, 2008. "Introduction". In Sider, Theodore, Hawthorne, John, and Zimmerman, Dean W., 2008. Contemporary Debates in Metaphysics. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publishers

Foundations

1. ontological commitment: Quine, Willard van Orman, 1948. "On What There Is". Review of Metaphysics 2: 21-38. (reprinted in Quine 1953, Kim / Sosa 1999 and van Inwagen / Zimmerman 2008)
2. truthmaker arguments: Rodríguez-Pereyra, Gonzalo, 2005. "Why Truthmakers". In Beebee, Helen and Dodd, Julian, editors, Truthmakers, pp. 17-31. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
3. identity and indiscriminability: Hawthorne, John, 2003. "Identity". In Loux, Michael J. and Zimmerman, Dean W., editors, The Oxford Handbook of Metaphysics, Oxford Handbooks in Philosophy, pp. 99-130. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Reprinted in Hawthorne (2006,1-30)
4. truth and existence: Jackson, Frank, 1980. "Ontological Commitment And Paraphrase". Philosophy 55: 303-315
5. the grounding of modality: Shalkowski, Scott A., 1994. "The Ontological Ground of Alethic Modality". The Philosophical Review 103: 669-688
6. the modal account of essence: Fine, Kit, 1994. "Essence and Modality". In Tomberlin, James E., editor, Philosophical Perspectives 8: Logic and Language, pp. 1-16. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publishers. The Second Philosophical Perspectives Lecture
7. the modal account of supervenience: Leuenberger, Stephan, 2008. "Supervenience in Metaphysics". Philosophy Compass 3: 749-762.
8. the danger of conventionalism: Sidelle, Alan,1989. Necessity, Essence and Individuation: A Defense of Conventionalism. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, ch. 1 and 2

Properties

1. the truthmaker argument for properties:
   • Devitt, Michael, 1980. "'Ostrich Nominalism' or 'Mirage Realism'". Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 61:433-439 (in Mellor / Oliver 1999)
   • Armstrong, David M., 1980. "Against 'Ostrich' Nominalism: A Reply to Michael Devitt", Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 61: 440-449. (in Mellor / Oliver 1999)
2. universals vs. tropes: Bacon, John 1997. "Tropes". In Zalta, Edward N., editor, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford, California: The Metaphysics Research Lab, Center for the Study of Language and Information. Version of February 19, 1997, substantially revised February 27, 2008
3. states of affairs vs. events: Wetzel, Thomas, 2003. "States of Affairs". In Zalta, Edward N., editor, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford, California: The Metaphysics Research Lab, Center for the Study of Language and Information. Version of July 17,2003
4. intrinsic vs. extrinsic properties: Weatherson, Brian, 2002. "Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Properties". In Zalta, Edward N., editor, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford, California: The Metaphysics Research Lab, Center for the Study of Language and Information. Version of January 5, 2002, substantially revised July 25, 2006
5. Intrinsic/extrinsic vs. relational/non-relational: Humberstone, Lloyd, 1996. "Intrinsic/extrinsic", Synthese 108, 2:205--267
6. properties and relations: Fine, Kit, 2000. "Neutral Relations". The Philosophical Review 109: 1-33
7. properties and their causal rôles: Hawthorne, John, 2001. "Causal Structuralism". In Tomberlin, James E., editor, Philosophical Perspectives 15: Metaphysics, pp. 361-378. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publishers. Reprinted in Hawthorne (2006, 211-227)
8. determinable and determinate properties: Funkhouser, Eric, 2006. "The Determinable-Determinate Relation". Noûs 40: 548-569

Metaphysical glue

1. bundle theories: Simons, Peter M., 1994. "Particulars in Particular Clothing: Three Trope Theories of Substance". Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 54: 553-557
2. substratum theories: Adams, Robert Merrihew, 1974. "Theories of Actuality". Noûs 8: 211-231.
3. Leibniz' principle again, adverbial modification: Hawthorne, John, 2006b. "Plenitude, Convention, and Ontology". In Hawthorne (2006), pp. 53-69
4. locations: Sider, Theodore and Hawthorne, John, 2002. "Locations". Philosophical Topics 30: 53-76. Reprinted in Hawthorne (2006, pp. 31-52, reserved)
5. aspects and respects: Baxter, Donald L. M., 1989. "Identity in the Loose and Popular Sense". Mind 97: 575-582

Objects

1. mereological essentialism: Chisholm, Roderick M., 1973. "Parts as Essential to Their Wholes". Review of Metaphysics 26: 581-603. Reprinted in Chisholm (1989, 65-82), reserved
2. the puzzles of coincidence: Burke, Michael B. (1994). Dion and Theon: An Essentialist Solution to an Ancient Puzzle. Journal of Philosophy 91 (3):129-139.
3. 3- vs. 4-dimensionalism: Sider, Theodore, 1997. "Four-Dimensionalism". The Philosophical Review 106: 197-231 (cf. also Sider 2004, reserved in the library)
4. persistence - endurance vs. perdurance: Sider, Theodore, 2000. "The Stage View and Temporary Intrinsics". Analysis 60: 84-88
5. A- vs. B-theories: Zimmerman, Dean W., 2005. "The A-Theory of Time, the B-Theory of Time, and 'Taking Tense Seriously'". Dialectica 59: 401-457
6. presentism vs. eternalism: Zimmerman, Dean W., 2008. "The Privileged Present: Defending an "A-Theory" of Time". In Contemporary Debates in Metaphysics, pp. 211-225. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publishers
7. Transworld heir lines and transworld individuals: Szabó, Zoltán Gendler, 2003. "On Qualification". In Zimmerman, Dean W. and Hawthorne, John, editors, Philosophical Perspectives 17: Language and Philosophical Linguistics, pp. 385-414. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publishers

Example questions

• Are identicals indiscernible?
• Are indiscernibles identical?
• Is Quine's criterion of ontological commitment a guide to one's person ontology?
• Is every truth made true by something?
• Are there falsemakers?
• If e makes it true that p, is it then nececessary that it is true that p if e exists?
• Does resemblance nominalism have an answer to the problem of universals?
• Is Bradley's regress fatal for trope theory?
• Are relations reducible to properties?
• Is Leibniz' Law compatible with the existence of change?
• Is the statue identical to the piece of marmor constituting it?
• May essence be analysed in modal terms?
• May essence be analysed in definitional terms?
• Is the constitution of a thing essential to it?
• Is the origin of a thing essential to it?
• Is Picasso qua painter identical with Picasso?

Guide to the literature

General introductions:

• Taylor, Richard N.,1963. Metaphysics. Foundations of Philosophy. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc
• Campbell, Keith,1976. Metaphysics. An Introduction. Encino and Belmont, California: Dickenson Publishing Co
• Körner, Stephan,1984. Metaphysics: its structure and function. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
• Smith, Quentin and Oaklander, L. Nathan, 1995. Time, Change and Freedom, introduction to metaphysics. London: Routledge
• Jubien, Michael, 1997. Contemporary Metaphysics. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publishers
• Zimmerman, Dean W. and van Inwagen, Peter, editors, 1998. Metaphysics: The Big Questions. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publishers
• Loux, Michael J., 2002. Metaphysics: a contemporary introduction. London: Routledge.
• van Inwagen, Peter, 2002. Metaphysics. Dimensions of Philosophy Series. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 2nd edition
• Lowe, Edward Jonathan, 2002. A Survey of Metaphysics. Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Hetherington, Stephen Cade, 2003. Reality? Knowledge? Philosophy! - An Introduction to Metaphysics and Epistemology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
• Sider, Theodore and Conee, Earl, 2005. Riddles of Existence: A Guided Tour of Metaphysics. Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Baldwin, Thomas, 2008. Metaphysics: Key Concepts in Philosophy. London: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd

Companions:

• Gale, Richard M., editor, 2002. The Blackwell Guide to Metaphysics. Blackwell Philosophy Guides. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publishers
• Kim, Jaegwon and Sosa, Ernest, editors, 1995. Blackwell's Companion to Metaphysics. Blackwell Companions to Philosophy. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publishers
• Laurence, Stephen and Macdonald, Cynthia, editors, 1998. Contemporary Readings in the Foundations of Metaphysics. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publishers

Handbooks:

• Loux, Michael J. and Zimmerman, Dean W., editors, 2003. The Oxford Handbook of Metaphysics. Oxford Handbooks in Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Sider, Theodore, Hawthorne, John, and Zimmerman, Dean W., 2008. Contemporary Debates in Metaphysics. Contemporary Debates in Philosophy. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publishers

Anthologies:

• Crane, Tim and Farkas, Katalin, editors, 2004. Metaphysics: A Guide and Anthology. Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Hales, Steven D., editor, 1999. Metaphysics:Contemporary Readings. Belmont, California: Unwin
• Hoy, Ronald C. and Oaklander, L. Nathan, editors, 1991. Metaphysics: Classic and Contemporary Readings. Belmont, California: Wadsworth
• Kim, Jaegwon and Sosa, Ernest, editors, 1999. Metaphysics. An Anthology. Blackwell Philosophy Anthologies. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publishers - includes Quine (1948), Adams (1979), Chisholm (1970), Zimmerman (1998), Prior (1970), Chisholm (1964), Frankfurt (1971)
• Loux, Michael J.,editor,1979.The Possible and the Actual: Readings in the Metaphysics of Modality. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press
• van Inwagen, Peter and Zimmerman, Dean W., editors, 2008. Metaphysics: The Big Questions. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publishers, 2nd edition - includes Quine (1948),
• Walsh, W.H., 1963. Metaphysics. London: Hutchinson University Library Oxford University Press

Collections:

• Chalmers, DavidJ., Manley, David, and Wasserman, Ryan, editors, 2008. Metametaphysics. Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Hawthorne, John, Sider, Theodore, and Zimmerman, Dean W., editors, 2005. Contemporary Debates in Metaphysics. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publishers
• Zimmerman, Dean W., editor, 2005-2010, Oxford Studies in Metaphysics (5 volumes), Oxford: Oxford University Press

Primary texts:

• Armstrong, David 2004. Truth and Truthmakers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
• Lewis, David K., 1986. On the Plurality of Worlds. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publishers
• Fine, Kit, 2005. Modality and Tense. Philosophical Papers. Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Lewis, David K.,1999. Papers in Metaphysics and Epistemology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
• Zimmerman, Dean W., editor, 2004. Oxford Studies in Metaphysics,volume I. Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Zimmerman, Dean W., editor, 2006. Oxford Studies in Metaphysics,volume II. Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Gale, Richard M., editor, 2002. The Blackwell Guide to Metaphysics. Blackwell Philosophy Guides. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publishers
• Sider, Theodore, Hawthorne, John, and Zimmerman, Dean W., 2008. Contemporary Debates in Metaphysics. Contemporary Debates in Philosophy. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publishers
• Hawthorne, John, 2006. Metaphysical Essays. Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Beebee, Helen and Dodd, Julian, editors 2005, Truthmakers. Oxford: Oxford University Press