The Routledge Companion to Metaphysics

ISBN-13: 9780415396318 / Angielski / Twarda / 2009 / 632 str.

Robin Le Poidevin;Peter Simons;Andrew McGonigal

Opis

The Routledge Companion to Metaphysics is an outstanding, comprehensive and accessible guide to the major themes, thinkers, and issues in metaphysics. The Companion features over fifty specially commissioned chapters from international scholars which are organized into three clear parts:

• History of Metaphysics
• Ontology
• Metaphysics and Science.

Each section features an introduction which places the range of essays in context, while an extensive glossary allows easy reference to key terms and definitions. The Routledge Companion to Metaphysics is essential reading for students of philosophy and anyone interested in surveying the central topics and problems in metaphysics from causation to vagueness and from Plato and Aristotle to the present-day.

The Routledge Companion to Metaphysics contains over fifty chapters written by leading international scholars covering all aspects of metaphysics.

It opens with a thorough historical overview of metaphysics including entries on key figures such as Plato, Aristotle, Spinoza and Leibniz up to Bradley and McTaggart. The second part covers the key concepts of metaphysics such as existence, substance, universals and particulars,  persistence, and identity. Part three examines fundamental topics in metaphysics as they relate to science, including time, causation, laws, natural kinds and the mental and the physical.

The Routledge Companion to Metaphysics is an outstanding reference resource and essential reading for anyone interested in or studying the subject. It will also be of interest to those in disciplines related to philosophy seeking an introduction and overview of this fundamental branch of philosophy.

 

Recenzje

'The Routledge Philosophy Companions series has a deserved reputation for impressive scope and scholarly value. This volume is no exception ... The editors successfully assemble chapters most relevant to contemporary work in metaphysics, a welcome trend in reference works for the 21st century. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All academic libraries supporting lower-level undergraduates and above.' - CHOICE

'The field of metaphysics is flourishing - and with an outstanding cast of contributors, the impressively-broad and satisfyingly-deep Routledge Companion to Metaphysics offers a superb guide to many of its most engaging and perplexing twists and turns, both historical and contemporary.' - Hud Hudson, Western Washington University, USA

'The Routledge Companion to Metaphysics promises to provide an accessible and historically informed survey of the field. It features over fifty articles, by some of the most prominent contemporary metaphysicians, covering virtually every major topic. Its combination of historical sweep and intellectual breadth set it apart from anything else on the market.' - Jonathan Schaffer, Australian National University, Australia 

'This monumental volume presents a lively, up-to-date and extremely rich panorama of the present state of metaphysical debate. The 53 fully cross-referenced contributions  are both admirably clear and deeply illuminating. It is difficult to imagine anything more useful for a course in metaphysics. This is bound to become a reference work for all scholars and students interested in metaphysics.' - Andrea Bottani, Bergamo University, Italy

Spis treści

General Introduction  Part 1: History of Metaphysics  1. Pre-Socratic Themes: Being, Not-being and Mind  2. Plato: Arguments for Forms  3. Aristotle: Form, Matter and Substance  4. Aristotle: Time and Change  5. Medieval Metaphysics 1: The Problem of Universals  6. Medieval Metaphysics 2: Things, Non-things, God and Time     7. Descartes: The Real Distinction  8. Hobbes: Matter, Cause and Motion 9. Spinoza: Substance, Attribute and Mode  10. Locke: The Primary and Secondary Quality Distinction  11. Leibniz: Mind-body Causation and Pre-established Harmony    12. Berkeley: Arguments for Idealism  13. Hume: Necessary Connections and Distinct Existences  14. Kant: The Possibility of Metaphysics  15. Hegel and Schopenhauer: Reason and Will  16. Anti-Metaphysics I: Nietzsche  17. Bradley: the Supra-relational Absolute  18. Whitehead: Process and Cosmology Peter Simons  19. Heidegger: The Question of Being  20. Anti-Metaphysics II: Verificationism and Kindred Views  21. Metaphysics Revivified  Part 2: Ontology: On What Exists  22. To Be  23. Not to Be  24. Razor Arguments  25. Substance  26. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Properties  27. Universals: The Contemporary Debate  28. Particulars   29. Persistence, Composition and Identity  30. Relations  31. Facts, Events and States of Affairs  32. Possible Worlds and Possibilia  33. Mathematical Entities  34. Fictional Objects  35. Vagueness   36. Minor Entities: Surfaces, Holes and Shadows  37. Truth-Makers and Truth-Bearers   38. Values   Part 3: Metaphysics and Science  39. Space, Absolute and Relational  40. The Infinite  41. The Passage of Time  42. The Direction of Time  43. Causation  44. Laws and Dispositions  45. Probability and Determinism  46. Essences and Natural Kinds  47. Metaphysics and Relativity  48. Metaphysics and Quantum Physics  49. Supervenience, Reductionism and Emergence  50. Biometaphysics  51. Social Entities 52. The Mental and the Physical  53. The Self  A Short Glossary of Metaphysics 

O autorze

Robin Le Poidevin is Professor of philosophy and Head of Humanities; Peter Simons is Professor of Philosophy; Andrew McGonigal is Lecturer and Ross Cameron Research Fellow all in the Philosophy Department, University of Leeds.