UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH - Duquesne University



DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY

PHIL 319 Spring 2018

Metaphysics

Instructor: Jay Lampert

This course introduces basic issues in metaphysics, focussing on the concepts of unity and multiplicity, actuality and possibility. Some of our concerns are abstract, e.g. relations between universals and particulars, substance and quality, or being and becoming. Others are directly relevant for understanding human action, such as free will and determinism, or theory and practice. All the concepts we deal with are important for understanding the kinds of reality that make up our actual lives.

We begin the course with Aristotle’s ancient theories of substance and potential. We then focus on two very different modern philosophers who ask “Why is there something rather than nothing?”: Leibniz’s rationalist metaphysics and Heidegger’s existentialist metaphysics. We conclude with some alternative recent forms of metaphysics: Carnap’s analytic challenge to the very idea of metaphysics, Mbiti’s African philosophy of time, Butler’s feminist metaphysics, and Deleuze’s philosophy of multiplicity.

To prepare to take this course, ask yourself, "What does it mean 'to be'?" "Are all things essentially one, or essentially many?" "What sort of a being asks itself what it means 'to be'?"

This course focuses on the skills of analyzing and evaluating difficult texts closely, as well as building one’s own metaphysical concepts consistently and critically.

Texts:

Aristotle, Metaphysics

Leibniz, Discourse on Metaphysics

Heidegger, Introduction to Metaphysics

Essays by Carnap, Mbiti, Butler, Deleuze (available on Blackboard)

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