Metaphysics: The Fundamentals

While notoriously difficult to define, metaphysics need not be a daunting subject of study. Metaphysics: The Fundamentals provides readers with an accessible and comprehensive introduction to modern analytic metaphysics. The book covers a broad range of key topics, including theories of properties and particulars, the notion of truth–makers, powers and possibilities, material composition, and a variety of issues related to time and causation. Thematically and systematically organized, each chapter features carefully worked–through questions about these topics, and all the important assumptions, axioms, and methodological principles are clearly identified. Readers with minimal technical knowledge of the field are introduced to the seminal philosophical works of such leading contemporary figures as David Lewis, Alvin Plantinga, Kit Fine, Peter van Inwagen, John Hawthorne along with the contributions of noted historical figures like Descartes, Leibniz, and Russell. Modern perspectives of Neo–Humeans, Platonists, and neo–Aristotelians are also covered—with the best arguments and objections of these schools of thought clearly stated. Specifically written for students encountering the subject for the first time, Metaphysics: The Fundamentals takes the mystery out of one of the most dynamic sub–fields in contemporary philosophy.

Robert C. Koons is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of Paradoxes of Belief and Strategic Rationality (2009), Realism Regained (2000), and co–editor of The Waning of Materialism (2010). Timothy Pickavance is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Talbot Department of Philosophy at Biola University, La Mirada, California. He has published a number of papers on topics relating to metaphysics and epistemology.