Metaphysics [ed: Adriano Palma]

(Last updated August 2023)

This thread is for discussions related to the Metaphysics book of the Introduction to Philosophy open textbook series. See the full project summary.

Chapter outline

  1. The Ambiguity of Metaphysics
  2. The Nature of Reality
  3. The Case of the Mind, a Puzzling Problem
  4. Fundamentality, or What Grounds What?
  5. Numbers
  6. Free Will
  7. Universals
  8. Experimental Metaphysics
  9. The Problematic Contacts Between Religious and Physicalist Metaphysics
  10. By Way of Not Concluding

How to participate:
We’re looking for two peer reviewers for this book. We seeking people with a graduate degree in philosophy, or graduate students in an MA or PhD program in philosophy, ideally with teaching experience at the first-year level. We are also interested in reviews from undergraduate students, to get feedback from the perspective of students who may be using the book.

Relevant Documents:
[Chapter Assignments](Public TOC - Google Sheets – see the list of chapters and authors.
Review Guide – Read this guide to learn more about how to do a peer review for this book.
Author Guide – Read this guide to find out more about what committing to author a chapter involves.

Team: @palmaadriano (book editor), @clhendricksbc (lead editor), @zoe (Rebus project manager), @apurva … and you?

1 Like

@zoe The outline of the Metaphysics part looks very promising. Although I don’t see myself contribute as author I would like to play my part perhaps as proofreader or reviewer. Looking forward to it.

Thanks to everyone who provided their feedback on the outline for this part! It is now closed for comments. We will start looking for chapter authors very soon, and if you’re interested, just add your name to the spreadsheet at the top of the page.

This looks interesting. I’d be happy to develop some of the historical stuff as well as the stuff on numbers and universals (so, Ch. 1, 3, 5, or 7). I actually don’t think I could commit to more than 1 or 2 chapters total, but I’d be happy to lend help where I am able.

1 Like

Hello, my name is Joseph. I got my PhD from Marquette and teach at a Wilbur Wright College in Chicago. I thought I could make a contribution to the Philosophy of Mind segment. My speciality is Nietzsche and Ethics, but Descartes is an area of competence, and I’m quite familiar with the Early Modern philosophy of mind tradition. So, I hope I can help.

@jakranak Hi Joseph, welcome to the Rebus Community! Thanks for your interest in this project. It looks like your areas of specialization are fairly varied, and we hope you can join us!

Thanks for sending along your CV. I will share it with Adriano Palma, the part editor of this section, who will make final decisions on chapter assignments. We’ll be in touch!

@smithnd I actually want to amend this comment to say that I will not be able to commit to more than 1 chapter. I feel most comfortable developing the historical issues. I can propose an outline for the historical chapter.

@smithnd Hi Nathan, that’s perfectly understandable. I’ll let Adriano Palma ( @palmaadriano ), the editor for this part, jump in with regards to the outline!