Fall 2011 Schedule of Courses

PHILOSOPHY 612A: METAPHYSICS

TUESDAY, THURSDAY
SECTION 1, 3:30 - 4:45 P.M.

PROFESSOR TOMIS KAPITAN

REQUIRED TEXTS
D. M. Armstrong, A World of States of Affairs, 1997 ed.
Alexander Bird, Nature’s Metaphysics, 2007 ed.
Peter Van Inwagen, Material Beings, 1995 ed.
Additional readings on Blackboard

COURSE CONTENT
This course is an in-depth survey of some of fundamental concepts, issues, proposals, and theories in contemporary metaphysics.  Among the topics that will be taken up and explored in some detail are the following: the nature of metaphysical inquiry; identity: properties and relations; states of affairs and propositions; dispositions; necessity and possibility; the distinction between abstract and concrete; causation; laws of nature.

COURSE FORMAT
TBA