Metaphysics


Course Information:

PHIL 43501-01

  • Professor Shields
  • Class Meetings: TR 11.00-12.15,  Haggar Hall B015



Prospectus

The course divides into two unequal parts.  The first,  larger part will offer a bread-and-butter advanced introduction to contemporary metaphysics, surveying such issues as: realism and nominalism about universals, diachronic identity, individuation, the modalities of possibility and necessity, essence, numbers and other abstract entities, propositions, causation, and time.  This survey will eventually give way to an intensive investigation of privileged ontology, focussing on the theory of substance.  In this connection, we will delve into a recent book in metaphysics which deals with our topics in a systematic manner.  


Office Hours and Contact Information:

  • Office: Malloy Hall 327
  • Office hours: T 8.30-10,30 and by appointment
  • e-mail: CJIShields@nd.edu 

  • N.b. I prefer e-mail to telephone as a manner of student contact.  I make an effort to answer student e-mails promptly, but please be aware that I measure promptness in this domain in days rather than hours or minutes. 


Required Texts:

  • Loux, M., Metaphysics: a Contemporary Introduction 3rd ed. (Routledge: 2006)
  • Loux, M., ed. Metaphysics: Contemporary Readings 2nd ed. (Routledge: 2008)
  • Evnine, S., Making Objects and Events: A Hylomorphic Theory of Artifacts, Actions, and Organisms (Oxford University Press: 2016)
  • Throughout the term, I will make recommendations to suitable journal literature.  There will also be additional readings developed in consultation with registered graduates, who will offer seminar presentations.


Requirements and Protocol:

Undergraduates: Undergraduate students will write two essays, the first at mid-term, of about 2,000 words, and the second, at the term’s end, in the neighbourhood of 4,000 words.  I will offer suggested topics for each of these essays.  You are, however, welcome to ignore these suggestions and write on a pertinent topic of your own choosing, but only if that topic is approved by me at least one week in advance of the due date.    

Graduates: Graduate students write two essays, the first at mid-term, of about 3,000 words, and the second, at the term’s end, in the neighbourhood of 5,000 words.  In addition, graduates will offer a seminar presentation in conjunction with their mid-term essay. 

The due dates are:   

  • Essay One: 9 March 
  • Essay Two: 8 May


These papers are to be submitted electronically in a main-stream word-processing format or (if you use something non-standard) as .pdf documents to: CJIShields@nd.edu.   Papers will be accepted until 17.00 on their due dates.

Attendance is expected at all seminar meetings.


Topics and Reading Schedule:

Please adhere to this reading schedule.  Note, however, that while some readings will be discussed directly in class, others will merely be assumed as background for lectures.  In either case, you are welcome—indeed, encouraged— to discuss with me readings which you find difficult or especially stimulating, either in class, when our schedule permits, or in my office hours, when not.  

Course Lecture Slides:



© Christopher Shields 2014