The Blackwell guide to Metaphysics

This guide is a definitive introduction to the core areas of metaphysics. It brings together sixteen internationally respected philosophers who examine topics including causation, temporality, ontology, personal identity, idealism, and realism. The book argues that although it is impossible to quantitatively assess the success of the metaphysical approach, a wide range of important questions cannot be productively addressed without its input. It is intended to engage both general readers and specialists and provides a solid foundation for further study.
Contents: Preface. 1. Physics, Metaphysics, and Method in Newton´s Dynamics: Lawrence Sklar. 2. Causation: Wesley Salmon. 3. What Events Are: Jonathan Bennett. 4. Time, Temporality and Paradox, Richard M. Gale. 5. A Thomist Metaphysics: John Haldane. 6. The Concept of Ontological Catergory: a New Approach: Lorenz Puntel. 7. Universals and Predication: Bruce Aune. 8. Composition as a Fiction: Gideon Rosen and Cian Dorr. 9. What Do We Refer To When We Say ´I´? Peter van Inwagen. 10. Personal Identity: The Non-Branching Form of ´What Matters´: Jennifer E. Whiting. 11. Idealism: T.L.S. Sprigge. 12. An Idealistic Realism: Presuppositional Realism and Justifcatory Idealism: Nichlas Rescher. 13. Overcoming a Dualism of Concepts and Causes: The Basic Argument of ´Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind´: Robert Brandom. 14. Metaphysical Realism and Logical Nonrealism: Panayot Butchvarov. 15. The Metaphysics of Possibilia: William Lycan. 16. The Actual and the Possible: Alexander Pruss.