Metaphysics

340 Pages·2009·1.392 MB·Portuguese

by  Peter Van Inwagen

0813343563 text.qxd:vanInwagen 5/28/08 10:24 AM Page i
METAPHYSICS
0813343563 text.qxd:vanInwagen 5/28/08 10:24 AM Page ii
This page intentionally left blank
0813343563 text.qxd:vanInwagen 5/28/08 10:24 AM Page iii
Third Edition
M E T A P H Y S I C S
Peter van Inwagen
UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
0813343563 text.qxd:vanInwagen 5/28/08 10:24 AM Page iv
Copyright © 2009 by Westview Press
Published by Westview Press,
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
Every effort has been made to secure required permissions to use all images, maps, and
other art included in this volume.
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be
reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of
brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address
Westview Press, 2465 Central Avenue, Boulder, CO 80301.
Find us on the World Wide Web at www.westviewpress.com.
Westview Press books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the United
States by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please
contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut
Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or call [phone], extension 5000, or
e-mail [email protected].
Designed by Trish Wilkinson
Set in 10.5 point Adobe Garamond
A CIP catalog record is available from the Library of Congress
ISBN: 978-0-8133-4356-3
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
0813343563 text.qxd:vanInwagen 5/28/08 10:24 AM Page v
To my daughter,
Elizabeth Core van Inwagen Holley
0813343563 text.qxd:vanInwagen 5/28/08 10:24 AM Page vi
This page intentionally left blank
0813343563 text.qxd:vanInwagen 5/28/08 10:24 AM Page vii
Contents
Preface to the Third Edition ix
1 Introduction 1
PART ONE: THE WAY THE WORLD IS 23
INTRODUCTION 23
2 Individuality 27
3 Externality 53
4 Temporality 71
5 Objectivity 93
PART TWO: WHY THE WORLD IS 109
INTRODUCTION 109
6 Necessary Being: The Ontological Argument 115
7 Necessary Being: The Cosmological Argument 145
PART THREE: THE INHABITANTS OF THE WORLD 169
INTRODUCTION 169
8 What Rational Beings Are There? 175
9 The Place of Rational Beings in the World: Design and Purpose 187
10 The Nature of Rational Beings: Dualism and Physicalism 209
11 The Nature of Rational Beings: Dualism and Personal Identity 235
vii
0813343563 text.qxd:vanInwagen 5/28/08 10:24 AM Page viii
viii Contents
12 The Powers of Rational Beings: Freedom of the Will 253
13 Concluding Meditation 273
Coda: Being 277
Bibliography 315
Index 319
0813343563 text.qxd:vanInwagen 5/28/08 10:24 AM Page ix
Preface to the Third Edition
T
his book is an introduction to metaphysics that presupposes no prior acquain-
tance with philosophy. It can be used either as an introductory textbook, suitable for
an upper-level undergraduate course in metaphysics (where it would probably be
supplemented by “readings” chosen by the instructor), or as a book that the—I hope
not mythical—“interested general reader” can pick up and read without guidance
from an instructor. It is primarily as an aid to this interested general reader that I
have included Suggestions for Further Reading at the end of each chapter (but one).
It should be noted that this book is a “systematic” rather than an “historical”
introduction to metaphysics. Although it contains discussions of arguments that
have their origins in the works of various of the great philosophers, it does not
pretend to present these arguments in a way that does scholarly justice to the form
in which they were originally presented. And no attempt is made at a connected
history of metaphysics.
For the benefit of the instructor who is considering using the book as a text, I
list the basic questions that the book addresses and some of the topics that are
considered in the course of addressing those questions:
(cid:129) What is metaphysics?(Appearance and reality; which questions are metaphys-
ical questions; comparison of the task and methods of metaphysics with
those of science and theology; diagnoses of the failure of metaphysics to
provide agreed-upon answers to any metaphysical questions, particularly the
diagnoses of Kant and the logical positivists.)
(cid:129) Is there a plurality of things, or is there only one thing? (Arguments for
monism, particularly those of Spinoza and Bradley; the authority of mysti-
cal experiences.)
ix