Thoroughly updated, the second edition of this highly successful textbook continues to represent the most comprehensive and authoritative collection of canonical readings in metaphysics. In addition to updated material from the first edition, it presents entirely new sections on the metaphysics of material objects and the philosophy of time. Thoroughly updated, the second edition of this highly successful textbook continues to represent the most comprehensive and authoritative collection of canonical readings in metaphysics. In addition to updated material from the first edition, it presents entirely new sections on ontology and the metaphysics of material objects. Preface (Jaegwon Kim, Ernest Sosa, Daniel Z. Korman).Part I: Ontology.1. On What There Is (W. V. Quine).2. Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology (Rudolf Carnap).3. Holes (David and Stephanie Lewis).4. Beyond Being and Nonbeing (Roderick M. Chisholm).5. Does Ontology Rest on a Mistake? (Stephen Yablo).6. Fictional Objects (Amie L. Thomasson).7. On What Grounds What (Jonathan Schaffer).Part II: Identity.8. The Identity of Indiscernibles (Max Black).9. Primitive Thisness and Primitive Identity (Robert M. Adams).10. Identity and Necessity (Saul Kripke).11. Contingent Identity (Allan Gibbard).12. Can There Be Vague Objects? (Gareth Evans).13. Vague Identity (Robert C. Stalnaker).Part III: Modality.14. Modalities: Basic Concepts and Distinctions (Alvin Plantinga).15. Actualism and Thisness (Robert M. Adams).16. A Philosopher's Paradise: The Plurality of Worlds (David Lewis).17. Possible Worlds (Robert C. Stalnaker).18. Modal Fictionalism (Gideon Rosen).19. Essence and Modality (Kit Fine).Part IV: Properties.20. Natural Kinds (W. V. Quine).21. Causality and Properties (Sydney Shoemaker).22. The Metaphysic of Abstract Particulars (Keith Campbell).23. New Work for a Theory of Universals (David Lewis).24. Universals as Attributes (D. M. Armstrong).Part V: Causation.25. On the Notion of Cause (Bertrand Russell).26. Causes and Conditions (J.L. Mackie).27. Causal Relations (Donald Davidson).28. Causality and Determination (G.E.M. Anscombe).29. Causation (David Lewis).30. Causal Connections (Wesley C. Salmon).31. Causation: Reductionism Versus Realism (Michael Tooley).32. Two Concepts of Causation (Ned Hall).Part VI: Persistence.33. Identity Through Time (Roderick M. Chisholm).34. Identity, Ostension, and Hypostasis (W. V. Quine).35. Parthood and Identity Across Time (Judith Jarvis Thomson).36. Temporal Parts of Four-Dimensional Objects (Mark Heller).37. The Problem of Temporary Intrinsics (David Lewis).38. Endurance and Temporary Intrinsics (Sally Haslanger).39. All the World's a Stage (Theodore Sider).Part VII: Persons.40. Persons and Their Pasts (Sydney Shoemaker).41. The Self and the Future (Bernard Williams).42. Personal Identity (Derek Parfit).43. Survival and Identity (David Lewis).44. Lonely Souls: Causality and Substance Dualism (Jaegwon Kim).45. The Ontological Status of Persons (Lynne Rudder Baker).46. An Argument for Animalism (Eric T. Olson).Part VIII: Objects.47. When are Objects Parts? (Peter van Inwagen).48. Many But Almost One (David Lewis).49. Existential Relativity (Ernest Sosa).50. The Argument from Vagueness (Theodore Sider).51. Epiphenomenalism and Eliminativism (Trenton Merricks).52. Against Revisionary Ontology (Eli Hirsch).53. Strange Kinds, Familiar Kinds, and the Charge of Arbitrariness (Daniel Z. Korman).