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Text

There is one book for this course - Kim, Jaegwon, and Ernest Sosa, eds. Metaphysics: An Anthology. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999. ISBN: 063120279X.

Reading Questions

Prof. Yablo provided the following reading questions for selected lectures:

Lecture 3: "RQ1: Universals." (PDF)
Lecture 7: "RQ2: Existence." (PDF)
Lecture 12: "RQ3: Necessity." (PDF)
Lecture 17: "RQ4: Causation." (PDF)
Lecture 23: "RQ5: Mind." (PDF)

Readings by Session

Course Readings.

LEC #	TOPICS	READINGS
1	What and why is a metaphysician?
2	Things and Properties	Kim, Jaegwon, and Ernest Sosa, eds. "Intro to 'Universals, properties, kinds.'" In Metaphysics: An Anthology. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999, p. 197. ISBN: 063120279X.
3	Properties = Universals	Armstrong. "Universals as attributes." In Metaphysics: An Anthology. Edited by Jaegwon Kim, and Ernest Sosa. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999, pp. 198-208. ISBN: 063120279X.
4	Properties = (Special) Particulars	Lewis. "New work for a theory of universals." In Metaphysics: An Anthology. Edited by Jaegwon Kim, and Ernest Sosa. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999, pp. 209-215. ISBN: 063120279X.
5	Properties at Work	Lewis. "New work." In Metaphysics: An Anthology. Edited by Jaegwon Kim, and Ernest Sosa. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999, pp. 215-223. ISBN: 063120279X.
6	Non-existence	Russell. "Existence and description." In Metaphysics: An Anthology. Edited by Jaegwon Kim, and Ernest Sosa. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999, pp. 23-35. ISBN: 063120279X. Parsons. "Referring to non-existent objects." In Metaphysics: An Anthology. Edited by Jaegwon Kim, and Ernest Sosa. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999, pp. 36-44. ISBN: 063120279X.
7	Existence	Quine. "On what there is." In Metaphysics: An Anthology. Edited by Jaegwon Kim, and Ernest Sosa. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999, pp. 4-12. ISBN: 063120279X. Carnap. "Empiricism, semantics, and ontology." In Metaphysics: An Anthology. Edited by Jaegwon Kim, and Ernest Sosa. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999, pp. 13-22. ISBN: 063120279X.
8	As-if Existence	Walton, Kendall. "Existence as metaphor." In Empty Names, Fiction and the Puzzles of Non-Existence. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications, 2000, pp. 69-94. ISBN: 1575862549. Yablo, Stephen. "Does Ontology Rest on a Mistake?" Supplement to the Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 72, no. 1 (June 1998): 229-262.
9	Identity of Indiscernibles	Black. "The identity of indiscernibles." In Metaphysics: An Anthology. Edited by Jaegwon Kim, and Ernest Sosa. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999, pp. 66-71. ISBN: 063120279X. Adams. "Primitive thisness and primitive identity." In Metaphysics: An Anthology. Edited by Jaegwon Kim, and Ernest Sosa. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999, pp. 172-183. ISBN: 063120279X.
10	Contingent Identity	Kripke. "Identity and necessity." In Metaphysics: An Anthology. Edited by Jaegwon Kim, and Ernest Sosa. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999, pp. 72-84. ISBN: 063120279X. Yablo. "Identity, essence, and indiscernibility." In Metaphysics: An Anthology. Edited by Jaegwon Kim, and Ernest Sosa. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999, pp. 116-129. ISBN: 063120279X.
11	Transworld Identity	Kripke. "Identity and necessity." In Metaphysics: An Anthology. Edited by Jaegwon Kim, and Ernest Sosa. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999, pp. 77-80. ISBN: 063120279X. Lewis. "Counterparts or double lives?" In Metaphysics: An Anthology. Edited by Jaegwon Kim, and Ernest Sosa. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999, pp. 154-71. ISBN: 063120279X.
12	Necessary and Contingent	Kim, Jaegwon, and Ernest Sosa, eds. "Intro to 'Modalities and possible worlds.'" In Metaphysics: An Anthology. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999, pp. 133-34. ISBN: 063120279X. Plantinga. "Modalities." In Metaphysics: An Anthology. Edited by Jaegwon Kim, and Ernest Sosa. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999, pp. 136-48. ISBN: 063120279X.
13	De Re Modality	Kripke. "Identity and necessity." In Metaphysics: An Anthology. Edited by Jaegwon Kim, and Ernest Sosa. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999, pp. 80-83. ISBN: 063120279X.
14	Essence and Accident	Fine, Kit. "Essence and Modality: The Second Philosophical Perspectives Lecture." Philosophical Perspectives 8, Logic and Language (1994): 1-16. Fine, Kit. "Senses of Essence." In Modality, morality and belief. Essays in honor of Ruth Barcan Marcus. Edited by Sinnott- Armstrong Walter. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1994, pp. 53-73. ISBN: 0521440823.
15	Possible Worlds	Rosen, Gideon. "Modal Ficitionalism." Mind 99, no. 395 (July 1990): 327-354. Fine, Kit. "The Problem of Possibilia." (PDF)
16	Causation as Regularity	Mackie. "Causes and conditions." In Metaphysics: An Anthology. Edited by Jaegwon Kim, and Ernest Sosa. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999, pp. 413-27. ISBN: 063120279X. Davidson. "Causal relations." In Metaphysics: An Anthology. Edited by Jaegwon Kim, and Ernest Sosa. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999, pp. 428-35. ISBN: 063120279X.
17	Causation as Dependence	Lewis. "Causation." In Metaphysics: An Anthology. Edited by Jaegwon Kim, and Ernest Sosa. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999, pp. 436-43. ISBN: 063120279X.
18	Causal Networks	Hitchcock, Christopher. "The Intransitivity of Causation Revealed in Equations and Graphs." Journal of Philosophy 98 (2001): 273-299.
19	Holding Fixed
20	Sufficient Reason	Hitchcock, Christopher. "Prevention, Preemption, and the Principle of Sufficient Reason." Faculty Working Paper, Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology.
21	De Facto Dependence	Yablo, Stephen. "Advertisement for a Sketch of an Outline of a Proto-Theory of Causation." In Causation and Counterfactuals. Edited by John Collins, Ned Hall, and L. A. Paul. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004, pp. 119-138. ISBN: 0262532565.
22	Pains and Brains	Kripke. "Identity and necessity." In Metaphysics: An Anthology. Edited by Jaegwon Kim, and Ernest Sosa. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999, pp. 83-86. ISBN: 063120279X. Yablo, Stephen. "Textbook Kripkeanism & the Open Texture of Concepts." Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 81 (2000): 98-122.
23	Multiple Realization	Fodor. "Special sciences." In Metaphysics: An Anthology. Edited by Jaegwon Kim, and Ernest Sosa. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999, pp. 504-14. ISBN: 063120279X. Kim. "Multiple realization & metaphysics of reduction." In Metaphysics: An Anthology. Edited by Jaegwon Kim, and Ernest Sosa. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999, pp. 515-30. ISBN: 063120279X.
24	Special Sciences
25	Last Class and Course Summary