Master metaphysics and ontology - the study of being, existence, and fundamental reality. Use for: existence, being, substance, identity, causation, modality, time, universals...
Master the fundamental questions of metaphysics: What exists? What is being? What is the ultimate nature of reality?
| Question | Field | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| What exists? | Ontology | Numbers? Properties? Possible worlds? |
| What is being? | Fundamental ontology | Being vs. beings |
| What are things made of? | Substance metaphysics | Matter, form, properties |
| What makes something the same over time? | Persistence | Personal identity, ship of Theseus |
| What is causation? | Causal metaphysics | Regularity, counterfactual, powers |
| What is possible/necessary? | Modality | Possible worlds, essence |
ONTOLOGICAL LANDSCAPE
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CONCRETE PARTICULARS
├── Physical objects (tables, planets)
├── Mental events (thoughts, pains)
└── Persons
ABSTRACT OBJECTS (?)
├── Numbers, sets
├── Propositions
├── Properties/universals
└── Possible worlds
EVENTS AND PROCESSES
├── The Battle of Waterloo
├── The melting of ice
└── My walking to work
FACTS AND STATES OF AFFAIRS
├── That snow is white
├── The redness of the apple
└── The table's being square
Platonism: Abstract objects exist
Nominalism: Only particulars exist
Aristotelian Substance:
Bundle Theory:
Substratum Theory:
Universals vs. Tropes:
| Universals | Tropes |
|---|---|
| One property, many instances | Each instance a particular |
| "Redness" is one thing | This red ≠ that red |
| Shared by objects | Resembling particulars |
| Explains resemblance | Avoids mysterious sharing |
Theories:
PERSONAL IDENTITY THEORIES
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PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTINUITY
├── Memory, personality, beliefs
├── Locke: consciousness makes identity
├── Parfit: What matters isn't identity
└── Problems: Fission, amnesia
BIOLOGICAL CONTINUITY
├── Same organism = same person
├── Animalism (Olson)
└── Problems: Transplant cases
SOUL/SUBSTANCE VIEW
├── Immaterial soul persists
├── Problems: Interaction, detection
└── Forensic vs. metaphysical identity
SHIP OF THESEUS
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Original ship's planks gradually replaced.
Is it still the same ship?
VARIANT: Old planks reassembled into second ship.
Which is the original?
POSITIONS:
├── Neither (no real identity)
├── Repaired ship (spatial continuity)
├── Reassembled ship (material continuity)
└── Both partially (graded identity)
Regularity Theory (Hume):
Counterfactual Theory (Lewis):
Powers/Dispositions:
Process/Mechanism:
Modal Claims:
What Are Possible Worlds?:
POSSIBLE WORLDS REALISM
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MODAL REALISM (Lewis)
├── Possible worlds are concrete realities
├── As real as actual world
├── "Actual" is indexical (like "here")
└── Controversial but powerful
ERSATZISM
├── Possible worlds are abstract objects
├── Sets of propositions, or
├── Maximal states of affairs
└── More conservative
FICTIONALISM
├── Possible worlds are useful fictions
├── No commitment to existence
└── Instrumentalist reading
Essential Properties: Properties a thing must have to be that thing Accidental Properties: Properties a thing happens to have
Kripkean Essentialism:
A-Theory (Tensed):
B-Theory (Tenseless):
Endurantism: Objects are wholly present at each moment Perdurantism: Objects have temporal parts (stages)
PERSISTENCE VIEWS
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ENDURANTISM PERDURANTISM
├── Object wholly ├── Object has temporal parts
│ present at each time │ (like spatial parts)
├── Properties change ├── Different stages have
│ (intrinsic change) │ different properties
└── Intuitive but └── Handles change better but
faces puzzles counterintuitive
When do parts compose a whole?
Universalism: Any objects compose something Nihilism: No composite objects exist Restricted: Some conditions required (contact, life, etc.)
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Ontology | Study of what exists |
| Metaphysics | Study of fundamental nature of reality |
| Substance | What exists in itself |
| Property | What is attributed to substance |
| Universal | One thing shared by many |
| Particular | Individual, unrepeatable |
| Trope | Particular instance of property |
| Modal | Concerning possibility/necessity |
| A priori | Independent of experience |
| A posteriori | Dependent on experience |
| Essence | What makes thing what it is |
| Accident | What thing contingently has |
| Supervenience | No A-difference without B-difference |
| Haecceity | Thisness; individual essence |
thoughts/existence/: Being, reality, metaphysics