The Routledge Companion to Metaphysics is an outstanding, comprehensive and accessible guide to the major themes, thinkers, and issues in metaphysics. The Companion features over fifty specially commissioned chapters from international scholars which are organized into three clear parts:

    • History of Metaphysics
    • Ontology
    • Metaphysics and Science.

    Each section features an introduction which places the range of essays in context, while an extensive glossary allows easy reference to key terms and definitions. The Routledge Companion to Metaphysics is essential reading for students of philosophy and anyone interested in surveying the central topics and problems in metaphysics from causation to vagueness and from Plato and Aristotle to the present-day.

    General Introduction  Robin Le Poidevin  Part 1: History of Metaphysics  Peter Simons  1. Pre-Socratic Themes: Being, Not-being and Mind  David Sedley  2. Plato: Arguments for Forms  Richard Patterson  3. Aristotle: Form, Matter and Substance  Stephen Makin  4. Aristotle: Time and Change  Ursula Coope  5. Medieval Metaphysics 1: The Problem of Universals  Claude Panaccio  6. Medieval Metaphysics 2: Things, Non-things, God and Time  John Marenbon  7. Descartes: The Real Distinction  Dugald Murdoch  8. Hobbes: Matter, Cause and Motion  George MacDonald Ross  9. Spinoza: Substance, Attribute and Mode  Richard Glauser  10. Locke: The Primary and Secondary Quality Distinction  Lisa Downing  11. Leibniz: Mind-body Causation and Pre-established Harmony  Gonzalo Rodriguez-Pereyra  12. Berkeley: Arguments for Idealism  Tom Stoneham  13. Hume: Necessary Connections and Distinct Existences  Alexander Miller  14. Kant: The Possibility of Metaphysics  Lucy Allais  15. Hegel and Schopenhauer: Reason and Will  Rolf-Peter Horstmann  16. Anti-Metaphysics I: Nietzsche  Maudemarie Clark  17. Bradley: the Supra-relational Absolute  William Mander  18. Whitehead: Process and Cosmology Peter Simons  19. Heidegger: The Question of Being  Herman Philipse  20. Anti-Metaphysics II: verificationism and kindred views  Cheryl Misak  21. Metaphysics revivified  Avrum Stroll  Part 2: Ontology: On What Exists  Ross P. Cameron  22. To Be  Christopher Daly  23. Not to Be  Graham Priest  24. Razor Arguments  Peter Forrest  25. Substance  David Robb  26. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Properties  Ross P. Cameron  27. Universals: The Contemporary Debate  Fraser McBride  28. Particulars  Herbert Hochberg  29. Persistence, Composition and Identity  Nikk Effingham  30. Relations  John Heil  31. Facts, Events and States of Affairs  Julian Dodd  32. Possible Worlds and Possibilia  John Divers  33. Mathematical Entities  Peter Clark  34. Fictional Objects  Richard Hanley  35. Vagueness  Elizabeth Barnes  36. Minor Entities: Surfaces, Holes and Shadows  Roberto Casati  37. Truth-Makers and Truth-Bearers  John Bigelow  38. Values  Kevin Mulligan  Part 3: Metaphysics and Science  Robin Le Poidevin  39. Space, Absolute and Relational  Tim Maudlin  40. The Infinite  Daniel Nolan  41. The Passage of Time  Eric Olsen  42. The Direction of Time  D. H. Mellor  43. Causation  Michael Tooley  44. Laws and Dispositions  Stephen Mumford  45. Probability and Determinism  Philip Percival  46. Essences and Natural Kinds  Alexander Bird  47. Metaphysics and Relativity  Katherine Hawley  48. Metaphysics and Quantum Physics Peter J. Lewis  49. Supervenience, Reductionism and Emergence  Howard Robinson  50. Biometaphysics  Barry Smith  51. Social Entities Amie L. Thomasson  52. The Mental and the Physical  Louise Antony  53. The Self  John Campbell  A Short Glossary of Metaphysics  Peter Simons and Ross P. Cameron

    Biography

    Robin Le Poidevin is Professor of philosophy and Head of Humanities; Peter Simons is Professor of Philosophy; Andrew McGonigal is Lecturer and Ross Cameron Research Fellow all in the Philosophy Department, University of Leeds.

    ‘The Routledge Philosophy Companions series has a deserved reputation for impressive scope and scholarly value. This volume is no exception … The editors successfully assemble chapters most relevant to contemporary work in metaphysics, a welcome trend in reference works for the 21st century. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All academic libraries supporting lower-level undergraduates and above.’ - CHOICE

    ‘The field of metaphysics is flourishing - and with an outstanding cast of contributors, the impressively-broad and satisfyingly-deep Routledge Companion to Metaphysics offers a superb guide to many of its most engaging and perplexing twists and turns, both historical and contemporary.’ - Hud Hudson, Western Washington University, USA

    The Routledge Companion to Metaphysics promises to provide an accessible and historically informed survey of the field. It features over fifty articles, by some of the most prominent contemporary metaphysicians, covering virtually every major topic. Its combination of historical sweep and intellectual breadth set it apart from anything else on the market.’ - Jonathan Schaffer, Australian National University, Australia 

    ‘This monumental volume presents a lively, up-to-date and extremely rich panorama of the present state of metaphysical debate. The 53 fully cross-referenced contributions  are both admirably clear and deeply illuminating. It is difficult to imagine anything more useful for a course in metaphysics. This is bound to become a reference work for all scholars and students interested in metaphysics.’ - Andrea Bottani, Bergamo University, Italy