Metaphysics: The Big Questions 2nd (second) Edition published by Wiley-Blackwell

by Peter van Inwagen

This volume provides a vital student a collection of the essential classic and contemporary readings in metaphysics. Metaphysics originates in attempts to answer some of the most puzzling questions about the world and our place in it. How are the appearances of things related to the things that appear? What is the nature of space and time? How do things persist through changes of parts and properties? How do causes bring about their effects? What is the relation between mind and body? Is it possible for us to act freely? Is there just one world? Why is there a world at all? Could there be an answer to this question? If so, must the answer appeal to the action of a necessary being? The anthology consists of a wide range of answers to these questions.

Genres: Philosophy, Metaphysics, Nonfiction, Textbooks, Reference

Unknown Binding

First published January 16, 1991

About the author

Peter van Inwagen is an American analytic philosopher and the John Cardinal O'Hara Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. earned his PhD from the University of Rochester under the direction of Richard Taylor and Keith Lehrer.

Today, Van Inwagen is one of the leading figures in contemporary metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of action. He has taught previously at Syracuse University and was the president of the Society of Christian Philosophers from 2010 to 2013. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005 and was President of the Central Division of the American Philosophical Association in 2008-2009. Van Inwagen has also received an honorary doctorate from the University of Saint Andrews in Scotland.

Reviews

[Cade · Rating 4 out of 5]

While Peter van Inwagen is one of my least favorite people, this collection of essays was still very good.

[laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

what i'm actually giving four stars to is the course in metaphysics i just completed with jody azzouni. we read probably half of this anthology, we skipped around, and i didn't really read the introductions much, so i don't know how it stacks up against other anthologies or anything like that, but this, my introduction to analytic metaphysics, was surprisingly enjoyable. i expected to class this thing 'dry' and 'tortuous', but 'clever' (black!), 'warm' (russell!), and 'beautiful' (russell, again, and also quine) were just excellent surprises. if i had a bookshelf for 'clean' (which i should), i would put this there, too.

[sologdin · Rating 2 out of 5]

useful probably for an undergraduate course. attempts to lay down some of the standard ontological concepts with some rigor--though it is a fairly short text, and, as I recall it, is trying to present summations of the major debates in orderly fashion.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read *every single article* in this text, but, I have read an article from each section. On the whole, it is an excellent resource.