Syllabus

Ontology (also referred to as metaphysics) is one of the three fundamental branches of philosophy, the remaining two being epistemology (the theory of knowledge) and axiology (the theory of value). Traditionally, ontology is characterised as the most general study of what exists (of being qua being, in Aristotle’s terminology), while metaphysics is understood somewhat broader as reaching into the field of so-called philosophical theology (the inquiry into the nature of the supreme being). Ontology investigates the most general and ubiquitous features of reality such as existence, identity, objects and its properties, time and space, causation, determinism and free will. One of the fundamental ontological problems is the delineation and analysis of the basic categories of beings, such as things, properties, classes, facts, states of affairs, events. In its investigations, ontology draws upon a variety of methods, including conceptual analysis, empirical generalisations (based on scientific theories), and the formal methods of mathematics and logic.

This course is intended as an introduction into the problems and methods of modern ontology. The primary approach of the course will be non-historic, and the main emphasis will be put on the current developments of ontology in the analytic Anglo-American tradition of philosophy. Unavoidable references to past philosophical schools and thinkers will be made through the prism of modern investigations of the subject. Thus the students will have an opportunity to learn about state-of-the-art contributions to the subject of ontology and metaphysics by eminent contemporary philosophers. Each particular group of ontological problems will be presented in a way that is accessible and engaging to a beginner-to-intermediate audience. The method of presentation of successive topics will typically be three-tiered. On the first level a problem (or problems) will be stated in a uniform conceptual framework using carefully selected and precisely defined terms. On the second level possible solutions to the problems will be laid down. The final, and most advanced level will present arguments for and against selected solutions which will subsequently be evaluated.

The main topics covered in the lecture will include: the notions of existence, objecthood and identity; the problem of universals and particulars; events, facts, and states of affairs; possible objects and worlds; time and space-time; persistence in time; causation; determinism; free will.
 

Readings:

Brian Garrett, What Is This Thing Called Metaphysics?, Routledge (Taylor & Francis) 2006

Michael J. Loux, Metaphysics. A Contemporary Introduction, Third edition, Routledge (Taylor & Francis) 2006

E.J. Lowe, A Survey of Metaphysics, Oxford University Press 2002

M.J.  Loux, D.W. Zimmerman, The Oxford Handbook of Metaphysics, Oxford University Press 2003