Being: Developments in Contemporary Metaphysics

by Robin Le Poidevin (Editor)

What is it for an object to persist through time? Do things have essences? What is the relation between an object and its parts? Are objects more real than their parts, or vice versa? Could there be spatio-temporally coincident objects? Do we need an ontology of truth-makers? These interrelated questions reflect the central concerns of contemporary metaphysics, which in recent years has seen an intensification of interest in ontological issues. They are the focus of the essays collected in this volume, which arose from the Developments in Contemporary Metaphysics conference held at the University of Leeds in September, 2006.

222 pages, Paperback

First published July 17, 2008

About the author

Robin Le Poidevin (born 1962) is a Professor of Metaphysics at the University of Leeds whose interests include the nature and experience of time, agnosticism, and philosophy of religion. He joined the Department of Philosophy at Leeds in 1989 having completed postgraduate studies at both Oxford and Cambridge, obtaining his MA from the former and his PhD from the latter.He is also the current president of The British Society for the Philosophy of Religion.

From 1998 to 2001 he was Head of Department, and in 2000 was appointed to a personal chair in Metaphysics. He is a member of the Centre for Philosophy of Religion, the Centre for Metaphysics and Mind, and is the Editor of Religious Studies, and Past President of the British Society for the Philosophy of Religion.

In 2007 he gave the Stanton Lectures in the Philosophy of Religion at the University of Cambridge, and in 2012 was Alan Richardson Fellow in Theology at the University of Durham.