PHIL 164: Metaphysics

Lecture course. Metaphysics is currently undergoing a revolution: the era of "intensional" metaphysics in which the machinery of possible worldstook center stage is giving way to a new period of "hyperintensional" metaphysics in which notions such as grounding, essence, and real definition that allow us to draw distinctions between items obtaining in all of the same possible worlds have become the focus. We will read some of the seminal texts in this new approach to metaphysics, as well as work by authors who are critical of the turn toward a hyperintensional metaphysics. In addition to exploring various questions in metaphysics as ends in themselves, we will also consider some ways in which hyperintensional tools can be applied to debates in other subfields of philosophy, such as ethics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of religion.