Introductory description

Metaphysics is the most general attempt to make sense of things. Though it is perhaps the oldest branch of the discipline, contemporary metaphysics is a vibrant and exciting subject. In this module, students are introduced to a number of different problems that have been at the centre of discussion in historical and contemporary metaphysics, and to some attempted solutions to these puzzles. Students will be encouraged to think for themselves about the puzzles and about philosophers' attempts to solve them.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

The first part of the module engages with traditional and contemporary problems about objects and identity. The second part of the module engages with questions about personal identity and the self. Representative topics to be studied include:

1. Substance: What is a substance?
2. Identity over Time: Do objects have temporal parts as well as spatial parts?
3. The Paradox of Material Constitution: Is the statue identical with the piece of clay that constitutes it?
4. Neo-Aristotelian approaches to Identity and Individuation: Are objects complexes of 'matter' and 'form?
5. Persons and personal identity: Does personal identity consist in the identity of a body or of psychological continuity?
6. Parfit on Persons: Is personal identity something we really care about?
7. Persons and Selves: What is the Self? Do Selves exist?
8. Buddist reductionism and eliminativism about the persons and the self

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Understand, analyse and apply key theoretical approaches in contemporary metaphysics, and explain the issues at stake in debates between them.
• Identify and assess different argumentative strategies used in metaphysics to address specific questions, and articulate central theoretical concepts that inform different answers to those questions.
• Develop and defend their own judgement about competing views in metaphysics, and express themselves clearly and with precision.

Indicative reading list

Many of the key texts will be taken from the anthology:

Jaegwon Kim, Daniel Korman and Ernest Sosa (eds.) Metaphysics: An Anthology, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Blackwell, 2012).

Additional illustrative bibliography

Introductory:

Michael J. Loux, and Thomas Crisp, Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction, 4th edition, (London: Routledge, 2017)
Ted Sider, John Hawthorne and Dean Zimmerman, Contemporary Debates in Metaphysics, (Oxford, Blackwell, 2008)

Katherine Hawley, How Things Persist. (Oxford: O.U.P., 2001)
Ted Sider, Four-Dimensionalism: An Ontology of Persistence and Time (Oxford, O.U.P., 2001)
David Wiggins, Sameness and Substance Renewed (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001)
Eric Olson, The Human Animal: Personal Identity without Psychology (Oxford. O.U.P., 1997).
Derek Parfit, Reasons and Persons (Oxford, O.U.P., 1984)
Lynne Rudder Baker. 2007. The Metaphysics of Everyday Life: An Essay in Practical Realism. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Marya Schechtman, The Constitution of Selves, (Oxford, O.U.P., 2007).
Jan Westerhoff. 2009. Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka: A Philosophical Introduction. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Peter Adamson and Jonardon Ganeri. 2020. Classical Indian Philosophy. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Lynne Rudder Baker. 2000. Persons and Bodies. A Constitution View. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Jay Garfield. 2015. Engaging Buddhism: Why it Matters to Philosophy. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Jay Garfield (translation and commentary) 2015. The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika. Oxford, Oxford University Press. A very helpful translation and commentary of Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka.

Subject specific skills

Students will be challenged to scrutinize their everyday conceptions of such things as 'material objects' and to defend these ordinary conceptions in the face of philosophical challenges (for example, the argument from temporary intrinsics or the paradoxes of material constitution). This will require close attention to a number of closely related arguments that exploit commonsense ideas about identity to arrive at radical conclusions. We will look at these arguments carefully to attempt to diagnose the problems and to creatively respond. Students will be encouraged to then apply these ideas about identity to the literature about persons and the problem of personal identity over time.

Transferable skills

Students will learn skills of close reading, analysis and creative problem-solving. They will develop and defend their own judgement about competing views in metaphysics. They will develop the ability to express themselves clearly and with precision in written work.