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METAPHYSICS
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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
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Copyright © 2009 by Westview Press
Published by Westview Press,
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
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Designed by Trish Wilkinson
Set in 10.5 point Adobe Garamond
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ISBN: 978-0-8133-4356-3
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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To my daughter,
Elizabeth Core van Inwagen Holley
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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
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viii Contents
12 The Powers of Rational Beings: Freedom of the Will 253
13 Concluding Meditation 273
Coda: Being 277
Bibliography 315
Index 319
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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.)
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