The Atlas of Reality: A Comprehensive Guide to Metaphysics - Hardcover

Koons, Robert C.; Pickavance, Timothy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1119116120 ISBN 13: 9781119116127

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell, 2017

Synopsis

The Atlas of Reality: A Comprehensive Guide to Metaphysics presents an extensive examination of the key topics, concepts, and guiding principles of metaphysics.

• Represents the most comprehensive guide to metaphysics available today
• Offers authoritative coverage of the full range of topics that comprise the field of metaphysics in an accessible manner while considering competing views
• Explores key concepts such as space, time, powers, universals, and composition with clarity and depth
• Articulates coherent packages of metaphysical theses that include neo-Aristotelian, Quinean, Armstrongian, and neo-Humean
• Carefully tracks the use of common assumptions and methodological principles in metaphysics

About this title

From the Back Cover

The Atlas of Reality: A Comprehensive Guide to Metaphysics presents an extensive examination of the key concepts, principles, and arguments of metaphysics, traditionally the very core of philosophical thought. Representing the first exhaustive survey of metaphysics available, the book draws from historic sources while presenting the latest cutting-edge research in the field. Seminal works of philosophers such as David Lewis, Alvin Plantinga, Kit Fine, Peter van Inwagen, John Hawthorne and many others are covered in depth, without neglecting the critical contributions of historical figures like René Descartes, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Bertrand Russell, and more.

Written in an accessible manner without sacrificing rigor, readers at all levels will gain illuminating insights into metaphysical topics ranging from the problem of universals, individuation and composition, and relations and qualities, to time, space, causation, existence, modality, and idealism. The authors also articulate the emergence of several coherent metaphysical theses, including neo-Aristotelian, neo-Humean, and more recent alternatives put forth by W. V. O. Quine and David M. Armstrong. Competing views are clearly and fairly represented, and key axioms and methodological assumptions are flagged and cross-referenced, providing scholars with an invaluable tool for future research in metaphysics.

Unprecedented in breadth of topic coverage and depth of analyses, The Atlas of Reality is an essential resource for those seeking a thorough understanding of one of the most compelling, influential, and enlightening sub-fields of philosophy in today's world.

About the Author

ROBERT C. KOONS is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of Paradoxes of Belief and Strategic Rationality (1993) and Realism Regained (2000), co-author of Metaphysics: The Fundamentals (with Tim Pickavance, 2014), and co-editor of The Waning of Materialism (with George Bealer, 2010).

TIMOTHY PICKAVANCEis an Associate Professor and Chair of the Talbot Department of Philosophy at Biola University. He is co-author of Metaphysics: The Fundamentals (with Robert Koons, 2014).

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1119116120
• ISBN 13: 9781119116127
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 720