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- ISBN: 9781405123679 | 1405123672
- Cover: Paperback
- Copyright: 1/5/2007
This volume collects together key contemporary texts in metaphysics. Designed for students or general readers with some background in philosophy, it has a distinctive pedagogical aim: to improve their ability to understand difficult philosophical texts, to engage critically with them, and to use them as a springboard for philosophical thought and writing.Each text is followed by a detailed commentary, which puts the author's views and arguments into context, explains key terms and argumentative moves, and - most importantly - asks a variety of questions. The questions are designed to prompt the reader to think hard about what the author is saying and why, to think of objections, and to formulate and justify his or her own views on the topic.The book includes texts by Kripke, Lewis, Parfit, Armstrong, Nagel and Dennett, amongst others. The topics covered are free will, personal identity, realism & nominalism, modality, persistence, realism and anti-realism.