Robert C. Koons, Timothy Pickavance

The Atlas of Reality (eBook, PDF)

A Comprehensive Guide to Metaphysics

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

The Atlas of REALITY The Atlas of Reality: A Comprehensive Guide to Metaphysics presents an extensive examination of the key concepts, principles, and arguments of metaphysics, traditionally the very core of philosophical thought. Representing the first exhaustive survey of metaphysics available, the book draws from historic sources while presenting the latest cutting-edge research in the field. Seminal works of philosophers such as David Lewis, Alvin Plantinga, Kit Fine, Peter van Inwagen, John Hawthorne and many others are covered in depth, without neglecting the critical contributions of historical figures like René Descartes, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Bertrand Russell, and more. Written in an accessible manner without sacrificing rigor, readers at all levels will gain illuminating insights into metaphysical topics ranging from the problem of universals, individuation and composition, and relations and qualities, to time, space, causation, existence, modality, and idealism. The authors also articulate the emergence of several coherent metaphysical theses, including neo-Aristotelian, neo-Humean, and more recent alternatives put forth by W. V. O. Quine and David M. Armstrong. Competing views are clearly and fairly represented, and key axioms and methodological assumptions are flagged and cross-referenced, providing scholars with an invaluable tool for future research in metaphysics. Unprecedented in breadth of topic coverage and depth of analyses, The Atlas of Reality is an essential resource for those seeking a thorough understanding of one of the most compelling, influential, and enlightening sub-fields of philosophy in today's world.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: John Wiley & Sons
• Seitenzahl: 720
• Erscheinungstermin: 9. Februar 2017
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781119116110
• Artikelnr.: 47795552

Autorenporträt

ROBERT C. KOONS is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of Paradoxes of Belief and Strategic Rationality (1993) and Realism Regained (2000), co-author of Metaphysics: The Fundamentals (with Tim Pickavance, 2014), and co-editor of The Waning of Materialism (with George Bealer, 2010). TIMOTHY PICKAVANCE is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Talbot Department of Philosophy at Biola University. He is co-author of Metaphysics: The Fundamentals (with Robert Koons, 2014).

Inhaltsangabe

Acknowledgements xvii

Part I Foundations

1 Introduction 3

1.1 A Brief History of Metaphysics 3

1.2 Why Do Metaphysics? 5

1.3 How to Use the Book 9

2 Truthmakers 13

2.1 Introduction 13

2.2 Five Arguments for Classical Truthmaker Theory 19

2.3 The Challenge of Deflationism 25

2.4 Truthmaker Maximalism 30

2.5 Alternatives to Truthmaker Maximalism 36

2.6 Conclusion and Preview 44

Notes 45

3 Grounding, Ontological Dependence, and Fundamentality 47

3.1 Is Grounding Real? 49

3.2 Relation between Grounding and Truthmaking 55

3.3 Relation between Grounding and Ontological Dependence 58

3.4 Conceptual vs. Extra-Conceptual Grounding 62

3.5 Alternatives to Grounding? 65

3.6 Can Grounding Relations be Grounded? 69

3.7 Connections between Grounding and Entailment 71

3.8 How is Grounding Different from Causal Explanation? 72

3.9 Conclusion: Grounding and Ontological Economy 72

Notes 73

Part II Dispositions

4 Conditionals 77

4.1 Counterfactual Conditionals: Semantics, Logic, and Metaphysics 78

4.2 Hypotheticalism 84

4.3 Anti-Hypotheticalism and Laws of Nature 86

4.4 Strong Hypotheticalism: Counterfactual Accounts of Powers and Dispositions 90

Notes 92

5 Laws of Nature 94

5.1 Strong Nomism: The Dretske-Armstrong-Tooley (DAT) Theory of Laws 94

5.2 Neo-Humeism: Reduction of Conditionals, Laws, and Powers 99

Notes 105

6 Powers and Properties 106

6.1 Advantages of Strong Powerism 106

6.2 The Individuation of Properties 108

6.3 Objections to Strong Powerism 118

6.4 Conclusion 121

Notes 121

Part III Universals and Particulars

7 Universals 125

7.1 Introduction 125

7.1.1 What properties must explain 126

7.2 Realism 128

7.3 Universals and the Problem of Intentionality 142

7.4 Properties as the Ground of Causal Powers 145

Notes 145

8 Reductive Nominalism and Trope Theory 147

8.1 Reductive Nominalism 147

8.2 Trope Theory 165

8.3 Conclusion 169

Notes 169

9 Particulars and the Problem of Individuation 171

9.1 Introduction 171

9.2 Facts 172

9.3 Substances 175

Notes 200

10 Relations, Structures, and Quantities 201

10.1 Accounts of Relational Facts 201

10.2 Non-Symmetrical Relations and the Problem of Order 206

10.3 Structural Universals and Constituent Ontology 215

10.4 Determinables, Quantities, and Real Numbers 219

10.5 Conclusion and Preview 225

Notes 225

Part IV The Nature of Reality

11 Nihilism and Monism 229

11.1 Nihilism and Aliquidism 229

11.2 Monism 237

Note 252

12 The Non-Existent and the Vaguely Existing 253

12.1 Does Everything Exist? 253

12.2 Ontic Vagueness 271

12.3 Conclusion 280

13 Solipsism, Idealism, and the Problem of Perception 281

13.1 Defining the Mental and the External 282

13.2 Solipsism and Phenomenalism 284

13.3 Theories of Perception 286

13.4 Arguments against Phenomenalism 306

13.5 Arguments against Solipsism 309

13.6 Conclusion and Preview 312

Notes 313

Part V Modality

14 Possibility, Necessity, and Actuality: Concretism 317

14.1 Int