Metaphysics Reading Group

The Metaphysics Reading Group (MRG) is a reading group for all things metaphysics. It is run by postgraduate students in the philosophy department in Durham University, and is open to all students and staff. The topics are decided by the group, often with one discussion naturally suggesting a reading for the following week. There are no fixed restrictions on the topics, our intentions being to run with the interests of the group. Please find below a (more or less complete) list of past readings. The meetings happen every Friday at 5pm in Room 010, 48/49 Old Elvet (unless otherwise specified), usually followed by a trip to a coffee shop or a public house. Each meeting is based on a reading which will have been read beforehand, usually a journal article or a chapter from a book. Meetings begin with a volunteer giving a brief introduction to the reading, followed by a lively discussion.

24th May 2013

'Contingent Identity' by Gibbard, which can found here: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30226117

Contacts:

Alex Carruth a.d.carruth@durham.ac.uk

Olley Pearson f.o.c.pearson@durham.ac.uk

John Henry Taylor j.h.taylor@durham.ac.uk

17/05/13	Three short papers all on the topic of composition (these only add up to about 15 pages all together): McDaniel, K., 2008, ‘Against Composition as Identity’, Analysis 68: 128-133 Mellor, D. H., 2006, ‘Wholes and Parts: The Limits of Composition’, South African Journal of Philosophy 25: 138-145 Merricks, T., 1999, ‘Composition as Identity, Mereological Essentialism, and Counterpart Theory’, Australasian Journal of Philosophy 77: 192-195
10/05/13	The second half of Sider's paper 'Parthood' (2007, Philosophical Review, 116).
03/05/13	Ted Sider's 2007 paper 'Parthood' (Philosophical Review, 116, pp. 51-91). This week we will be looking at sections 1-3 of the paper
26/04/13	Lewis' "Counterfactual Dependence and Time's Arrow", Nous, 13, 1979.
19/04/13	No session this week
22/03/13	Bringing About the Past by Michael Dummett - The Philosophical Review Vol. 73, No. 3 (Jul., 1964), pp. 338-359
15/03/13	"Up and Down, Left and Right, Past and Future" by Lawrence Sklar (Noûs Vol. 15, No. 2 (May, 1981), pp. 111-129).
08/03/13	''The paradoxes of time travel' by Lewis (1976).
01/03/13	"Distinguishing Universals From Particulars," 64 (2004) Analysis pp. 326-332 by Douglas Ehring.
22/02/13	Fraser MacBrides paper 'The Particular Universal Distinction: a Dogma of Metaphysics?' (Mind, 2005, 114, pp. 565-614).
15/02/13	Frank Ramsey's 1925 paper 'Universals' (Mind, Vol 34, No 136). This can be accessed on jStor via the library website.
08/02/13	Shaffer's paper on Monism - looking at the second section. There is also an appendix detailing some historical observations http://www.jonathanschaffer.org/monism.pdf
01/02/13	Shaffer, J. 'Monism: The Priority of the Whole' http://www.jonathanschaffer.org/monism.pdf
25/01/13	Shaffer, J. 'Monism: The Priority of the Whole' http://www.jonathanschaffer.org/monism.pdf
18/01/13	Williams, N. (2010) Puzzling Powers: the Problem of Fit in Mamadoro (ed) The Metaphysics of Powers. The paper is also available online at: http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~new/Puzzling%20Powers%20Final%20Draft.pdf
14/12/12	The Metaphysics of Powers, discussing an article by Handfield titled 'Dispositions, Manifestations and Causal Structure'. It is to be found in the Marmodoro book
07/12/12	EJ Lowe's "On the Individuation of Powers" (from Marmodoro, A ed. 'The Metaphysics of Powers: their grounding and their manifestations', pp. 8-26)
30/11/12	Ted Sider's 'Hirsch's attack on Ontologese' that is forthcoming in Nous but which you can access on philpapers.
23/11/12	Hirsch - 'Quantifier Variance and Realism' (Noûs 36 (s1):51 - 73). We're going to be focussing discussion on sections 1-5.
16/11/12	Putnam's "Realism and Reason" (Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association, Vol. 50, No. 6(Aug., 1977), pp. 483-498).
09/11/12	Carnap, 'Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology', Revue Internationale de Philosophie 4 (1950): 20-40. Reprinted in the Supplement to Meaning and Necessity: A Study in Semantics and Modal Logic, enlarged edition (University of Chicago Press,1956).
02/11/12	Merricks' paper 'Endurance, Psychological Continuity and the Importance of Personal Identity' (Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 1999, Vol LIX, No 4).
26/10/12	Hubert, D. and Kelly, S. "Heterophenomenology: Heavy-handed sleight-of-hand" (Phenomenology and Cognitive Science, 2007, 6, pp. 45-55).
19/10/12	Dennett's 'Consciousness Explained', titled 'The Reality of Selves'.
12/10/12	Parfit, D, 'Personal Identity' (Philosophical Review, 1971, 80 pp.3-27)
21/09/12	Quine. 'Two Dogmas of Empiricism' (Sections 5 to 7)
14/09/12	Quine. 'Two Dogmas of Empiricism' (Sections 1 to 4)
07/09/12	Pearson, O. & O'Conaill, D. 'Ontological Dependence and the Fundamental Level'
14/08/12	Psillos, S. 'Salt does dissolve in water, but not necessarily' (Analysis 62 255-57) Beebee, H. 'Contingent Laws Rule: Reply to Bird' (Analysis 62 252-55)
10/08/12	Baltimore, J.A. 2011 paper "Lewis' Modal Realism and Absence Causation" (Metaphysica, 12, 117-124).
03/08/12	Roache, 2009 - 'Biking the Biking Argument' - Analysis Ben-Yami, 2010 - 'Backwards Causation Still Impossible' - Analysis
27/07/12	Haldane, J "Identifying Privative Causes' Analysis", (Vol 71 \| Number 4 \| October 2011 \| pp. 611–619).
15/06/12	Cleland, C "On the Individuation of Events". (1991, Synthese, vol 86).
08/06/12	Kim, J "Events as Property Exemplifications", 1976
01/06/12	Schulte, P "Truthmaking: A Tale of Two Explanatory Projects" (Synthese, 2011).
25/05/12	Molnar, G "Truthmakers for Negative Truths" (2000, Australasian Journal of Philosophy)
18/05/12	Chapter 1 of D.M. Armstrong's 'Truth and Truthmaking'.
11/05/12	Lowe, E.J. 2006. "Non-Cartesian Substance Dualism and the Problem of Mental Causation"
04/05/12	Heil, J. 2011. "Powers and the Realisation Relation", Monist
20/04/12	Crane, T. 1995. The Mental Causation Debate (Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volume, 1995).
13/04/12	McDowell, J. Mind and World
06/04/12	McDowell, J. Mind and World
30/03/12	Lennon, K. 2000. Normativity, naturalism and perspectivity
16/03/12	Dennett, D. 1971. Intentional Systems
09/03/12	Chalmers, D. 2000. Does conceivability entail Possibility.
02/03/12	Chalmers, D. 2000. Does conceivability entail Possibility
24/02/12	Stoljar, D. 2001. The Conceivability Argument and Two Conception of the Physical
10/02/12	Chalmers, D. 2002. Consciousness and its Place in Nature.
17/02/12	Chalmers, D. 2002. Consciousness and its Place in Nature.
03/02/12	Shalkowski, S. 2008. Essence and Being
27/01/12	Lowe, E. J. 2008. Two Notions of Being: Entity and Essence.
20/01/12	Zalta, E. 2006. Essence and Modality.
13/01/12	Correia, F. 2011. On the Reduction of Necessity to Essence. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research.
06/01/12	HOLIDAY
30/12/11	HOLIDAY
23/12/11	HOLIDAY
16/12/11	HOLIDAY
09/12/11	Vetter, B. 2011. Recent Work: Modality Without Possible Worlds. Analysis Reviews 71: 742 - 754.
02/12/11	Fine, K. 1994. Essence and Modality. Philosophical Perspectives 8: 1 - 16.
25/11/11	Lowe, E. J.
18/11/11	Plantinga, A. The Ontological Argument. http://mind.ucsd.edu/syllabi/02-03/01w/readings/plantinga.html
11/11/11	Lowe, E. J. Forthcoming. Metaphysical Nihilism Revisited.
04/11/11	Lowe, E. J. 1996. Why Is There Anything at All? Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 70: 111 - 120.
28/10/11	van Inwagen, P. 1996. Why Is There Anything at All? Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 70: 95 - 111.
21/10/11	Leibniz, G. v. W. The Monadology.
14/10/11
07/10/11	Leibniz, G. v. W. The Monadology.
30/09/11
23/09/11	Leibniz, G. v. W. The Monadology.
16/09/11
09/09/11	Leibniz, G. v. W. The Monadology.
02/09/11
26/08/11	Leibniz, G. v. W. The Monadology.
19/08/11
12/08/11
05/08/11
29/07/11
22/07/11
15/07/11
08/07/11	Descartes, R. Principles of Philosophy.
01/07/11	Martin, C. B. 2008. Extract from The Mind in Nature. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
24/06/11	Ellis, B. & Lierse, C. 1994. Dispositional Essentialism. Australasian Journal of Philosophy 72: 27 - 45.
17/06/11	Prior, E., Pargetter, R. & Jackson, F. 1982. Three Theses about Dispositions. American Philosophical Quarterly 19: 251 - 257.
10/06/11	Mellor, D. H. 1974. In Defence of Dispositions. Philosophical Review 83: 157 - 181.
03/06/11	Martin, C. B. 1980. Substance Substantiated. Australasian Journal of Philosophy 58: 3 - 10.
27/05/11	Simons, P. M. 1998. Farewell to Substance: A Differentiated Leave-Taking. Ratio 11: 235 - 252.
20/05/11	Lowe, E. J. 1988. Substance, Identity, and Time. Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 62: 61 - 78.
13/05/11
06/05/11
29/04/11
22/04/11
15/04/11
08/04/11
01/04/11	Campbell, K. 1981. The Metaphysics of Abstract Particulars. Midwest Studies in Philosophy 6: 477 - 488.
25/03/11	Armstrong, D. M. 1997. Chapter Four of A World of States of Affairs. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press: 47 - 68.
18/03/11	Price, H. H. 2001. Universals and Resemblances. In Metaphysics: Contemporary Readings. M. J. Loux (ed.). London, Routledge: 20 - 41.
11/03/11
04/03/11
25/02/11	Lewis, D. K. 2001. Extract from On The Plurality of Worlds. Oxford, Blackwell: 196 - 220.
18/02/11	Lewis, D. K. 2001. Extract from Counterfactuals. Oxford, Blackwell: 84 - 90.
11/02/11	Kripke, S. A. 1971. Identity and Necessity. In Identity and Individuation. M. K. Munitz (ed.). New York, New York University Press:
04/02/11	Shoemaker, S. 1969. Time Without Change. Journal of Philosophy 66: 363 - 381.
28/01/11	Mellor, D. H. 1981. Chapter 5 of Real Time. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press: 73 - 88.
21/01/11	Broad, C. D. 2001. Ostensible Temporality (abridged). In Metaphysics: Contemporary Readings. M. J. Loux (ed.). London, Routledge: 272 - 278.
14/01/11
07/01/11
31/12/10
24/12/10
17/12/10
10/12/10
03/12/10	Molnar, G. 2000. Truthmakers for Negative Truths. Australasian Journal of Philosophy 78: 72 - 86.
26/11/10	Heil, J. 1998. Supervenience Deconstructed. European Journal of Philosophy 6: 146 - 155.
19/11/10	Stalnaker, R. 1996. Varieties of Supervenience. Philosophical Perspectives 10: 221 - 242.
12/11/10	Heil, J. 2003. Levels of Reality. Ratio 16: 205 - 221.
05/11/10	Martin, C. B. 1993. The Need for Ontology: Some Choices. Philosophy 68: 505 - 522.
29/10/10	Putnam, H. 1982. Why There Isn't a Ready-Made World. Synthese 51: 205 - 228.
22/10/10	Quine, W. v. O. 1968. Ontological Relativity. Journal of Philosophy 65: 185 - 212.
15/10/10	Quine, W. v. O. 1953. On What there Is. Review of Metaphysics 2 : 21 - 38.