PHIL 361

Metaphysical Structures of the World


Please note: this is archived course information from 2019 for PHIL 361.

Description

Metaphysics investigates philosophical problems which arise out of attempts to give a quite general picture or description of the nature and structure of the world and, more generally, from considering problems involving the most fundamental concepts we use in attempting to describe the nature of reality and our place in it and in attempting to evaluate doctrines in this domain.

Science, common sense, religions and cultures all presuppose metaphysical world-views. Traditional metaphysical problems concern laws, causation, time, space, substance, identity, attributes and universals, free will, reality, existence, modality and so on. Course topics will be selected from such traditional philosophical problems, particularly including modern and contemporary attempts to clarify them.

Availability 2019

Not offered in 2019; planned for 2020

Lecturer(s)

TBA

Reading/Texts

Brian Garrett, What is this thing called Metaphysics? 2nd ed. (London: Routledge, 2011). ISBN: 9780415617222, or ISBN-10: 0415617227.

This reading will be supplemented by material in one or more course books, together with materials made available online.

Assessment

Coursework + exam

Points

PHIL 361: 15 points

Prerequisites

30 points at Stage II in Philosophy or 30 points from HISTORY 240, PHIL 260, SCIGEN 201

Restrictions

PHIL 261