Metaphysics: An Introduction

Metaphysics: An Introduction, Second Edition combines comprehensive coverage of the core elements of metaphysics with contemporary and lively debates within the subject. It provides a rigorous and yet accessible overview of a rich array of topics, connecting the abstract nature of metaphysics with the real world. Topics covered include:

• basic logic for metaphysics
• an introduction to ontology
• abstract objects
• material objects
• critiques of metaphysics
• natural and social kinds
• the metaphysics of race and gender
• grounding and fundamentality
• free will
• time
• modality
• persistence
• causation.

This outstanding book not only equips the reader with a thorough knowledge of the fundamentals of metaphysics, but provides a valuable guide to contemporary metaphysics and metaphysicians.

New for this second edition are updated sections on metaphysical indeterminacy; new sections on manipulation arguments and free will and neuroscience; and new chapters on the important topics of social ontology, fundamentality, and grounding.

Additional features such as exercises, annotated further reading, a glossary, and a companion website https://routledgetextbooks.com/textbooks/9780815350491 have also been updated and will help students find their way around this subject and assist teachers in the classroom.

Alyssa Ney is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of California – Davis, USA. She works primarily in metaphysics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of physics. She is the author of The World in the Wave Function: A Metaphysics for Quantum Physics (2021), and co-editor with David Z Albert of The Wave Function: Essays on the Metaphysics of Quantum Mechanics (2013).