Metaphysics

There are two versions of this course. The introductory level course focuses on three main topics: (1) time, (2) identity, and (3) freedom. The content of the upper-level course changes by semester. It typically focuses on puzzles associated with material coincidence, properties, and time.

Handouts and Slides

1. What is Metaphysics?
2. The Method of Metaphysics
3. Qualitative and Numerical Identity Slides, handout
4. Soulful theory of diachronic identity Slides, handout

Texts

Accessible HTML versions of handouts are available if needed.

• An Introduction to Metaphysics: Identity, Free Will, and Time (Fall 2026).
• An Introduction to Metaphysics: Identity, Free Will, and Time (Spring 2026).
• Metaphysics: Time, Persons, and Identity (Fall 2025).
• Metaphysics Seminar: Composition and Time (Spring 2025).
• Metaphysics Seminar: Ontology, Time, and Persistence (Fall 2022).

Videos

• Death, Well-being, and the Difference-Making Principle
• Four Dimensionalism, A Puzzle of Material Coincidence, and the Humanistic Consequences of 4D
• Experience and Non-Present Objects
• Four Theories of Time - An Introduction
• Letting the Child Drown - Moral Indifference in a World of Possible Worlds
• Ontological Commitment and Paraphrase
• The triviality of ontology partially considered: Permissivism about abstracta