PHIL 2040 - Metaphysics: Identity, Time and Freedom

Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that investigates very general questions about the nature of reality, questions that are prior to other scientific investigations. Where physics might tell us how objects move through space and time, metaphysics investigates questions like 'What is the nature of time itself?', 'How do objects continue to exist over time and through change?', 'What is an object?' or even 'What is existence?'. Metaphysics also concerns itself with questions about the relations between different branches of knowledge. For example: 'Is the world entirely physical?', or 'Can human agency be reconciled with the existence of causal laws?' In this course, we will approach some of these issues as they are treated in contemporary analytic philosophy. We focus particularly on the nature of time (including time travel and the significance of relativity theory); the nature of identity (including personal identity, the paradox of change, and the nature of parts and wholes); and the problem of free will.