2nd Edition

Metaphysics: The Basics

By Michael Rea Copyright 2021
252 Pages
by Routledge

252 Pages
by Routledge

252 Pages
by Routledge

Metaphysics: The Basics is a concise and engaging introduction to the philosophical study of some of the most important and foundational aspects of the world in which we live. Concerned with questions about existence, time, identity, change, and other basic elements of our common-sense and scientific ways of thinking about the world, metaphysics has long fascinated people. But to the... Read more

1. Introduction

2. Things that don’t eist

3. Abstract objects

4. Possible worlds

5. Time

6. Time travel

7. Substance

8. Things and their parts

9. Change and identity

10. Freedom

11. Social metaphysics—gender

12. Metaphysics and its critics

Glossary

Index

Biography

Michael Rea is Rev. John A. O’Brien Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, USA, and Professorial Fellow in the Logos Institute for Analytic and Exegetical Theology at the University of St Andrews, UK. He has written or edited more than fifteen books, and has given numerous lectures around the world, including the 2017 Gifford Lectures at the University of St Andrews.

"Rea improves upon the already excellent first edition with helpful expansions and reorganizations of original topics and the welcome addition of new ones. The result is a broad and accurate survey of the state of the art in metaphysics, presented in a clear, engaging, and thoughtful manner. A terrific resource for students, or anyone else, interested in contemporary metaphysics." - Michael J. Raven, University of Victoria, Canada