Philosophy 463: Intro Metaphysics

First, I’m sorry I missed class today without prior announcement. I threw out my back yesterday and have been having trouble walking around. We will have class on Wednesday, either to talk about modality or to review the study questions.

Second, please remember to fill out the electronic SEIs for this course. You can’t do this after this Friday, March 12th. I am untenured, and these evaluations have an impact on my tenure decision, so they are important, whether positive or negative.

Third, I’ve posted the study guide for the final.

For Wednesday, March 3rd, read

• Lewis, David (1973). “Possible Worlds.” Excerpt from his Counterfactuals, Blackwell. Reprinted in MTBQ.
• Lewis, David (1986). “Modal Realism at Work.” Excerpt from his On the Plurality of Worlds. Reprinted in MTBQ.

The handout on change is posted.

The second assignment is posted.

I failed to mention in class what you should read for next time, Feb 22:

• Haslanger, Sally (1989). “Endurance and Temporary Intrinsics,” Analysis 49 119–25.
• Hinchliff, Mark (1996). “The Puzzle of Change,” Philosophical Perspectives 10 119—136.
• Zimmerman, Dean (1998). “Temporary Intrinsics and Presentism”. In MBQ.

For Wed, Feb 17th, read the first three pieces on the reading list under the heading “Change”:

• Quine, “Identity, Ostension, and Hypostasis”, part I
  • The linked PDF is the whole article, which is worth reading. The selection in our book corresponds to the first four pages of the article. I am only assigning those first four pages.
• Lewis, “In Defense of Stages”
• Lewis, “The Problem of Temporary Intrinsics”

On Monday, Feb 8th, I announced that for Wednesday, Feb 10th, you should read

• Black, Max (1952). “The Identity of Indiscernibles,” Mind 61 153–164.
• Hawthorne, John (1995). “The Bundle Theory of Substance and the Identity of Indiscernibles”, Analysis 55 (1995): 191–196

Sorry that I am late getting this up on the webpage.

Just a reminder that your rewrites are due in class on Wednesday, February 10th.

For Wed, Feb 3rd, read

• Williams, The Elements of Being
• Black, The Identity of Indiscernables

As announced in class, everyone will have an opportunity to rewrite their first paper.

For Monday 1/25, read Price and Armstrong, ch. 5.

I have posted the first paper assignment. It is due on January 27th.

For Monday, 1/18 Wednesday, 1/20, read

• Russell, “The World of Universals”
• Armstrong, Chapter 1 of Universals: An Opinionated Introduction

Note that this chapter from Armstrong is not in our reader, but is available from the readings page. (The Schaffer article is also not in our reader, but on the readings page.)

For Monday, 1/11, read

• Chisholm, “Beyond Being and Nonbeing”
• Schaffer, “On What Grounds What”

Several students asked me after class today (1/6) whether it was a problem that they found this material confusing. The answer is no! This material is confusing. If you don’t find it confusing, you probably aren’t understanding it.

For Wednesday, 1/6, read the first three articles on the reading list:

• “Holes”
• “On What There Is”
• “Beyond Being and Nonbeing”