PHIL 741

Metaphysics 2

Please note: this is archived course information from 2015 for PHIL 741.

Description

This is a problems-oriented course. There are extensive contemporary debates in metaphysics about a connected set of topics arising out of puzzles concerning the identity and individuation of entities which persist through time. The metaphysical nature of persistence (“identity through time”), the relationship between identity and other close relatives of the identity-relation such as constitution, the question of whether persisting entities have temporal parts, and whether distinct material things can be in the same place and be made of the same matter, all figure amongst the issues which are bound up in these debates.

These puzzles concern persisting things in general, including everyday material things, but have an important bearing on the available options in the personal identity debate.

In this course we will examine some of the more fundamental philosophical problems associated with the above topics, and explore some of the dialectical territory which has grown up around them. We will particularly look at the four-dimensionalist approach to resolving these problems, and a couple of the main rivals to that approach. In the final weeks of the course we will look at how these alternative approaches bear on current debates about personal identity.
 

Availability 2015

Semester 1

Lecturer(s)

Coordinator(s) Dr Denis Robinson

Reading/Texts

There is no set text. Primary readings will be handed out in class or made available, together with recommendations for further readings.

Recommended Reading

Any student interested in this course should take a look at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (online) entry on Identity, by Harold Noonan and Ben Curtis. After looking at that entry, look also at Andre Gallois’ entry (also in the Stanford Encyclopedia) on Identity Over Time.

Points

PHIL 741: 15 points