The Nature of Ordinary Objects

Provides new insights into contemporary debates surrounding the metaphysics of objects, a subject undergoing an important revival.

Javier Cumpa (Edited by), Bill Brewer (Edited by)

9781316612897, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 8 April 2021

305 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.413 kg

The metaphysics of ordinary objects is an increasingly vibrant field of study for philosophers. This volume gathers insights from a number of leading authors, who together tackle the central issues in contemporary debates about the subject. Their essays engage with topics including composition, persistence, perception, categories, images, artifacts, truthmakers, metaontology, and the relationship between the manifest and scientific images. Exploring the nature of everyday things, the contributors situate their arguments and the latest research against the background of the field's development. Moreover, many essays propose new ideas and approaches, looking ahead to the future of the metaphysical study of ordinary objects. Featuring numerous clearly explained examples and with thoughtful links drawn to other, related disciplines such as pragmatism, this wide-ranging volume fills a major gap in the literature and will be important for scholars working in metaphysics.

Introduction: issues and options Javier Cumpa and Bill Brewer
1. Perception and ordinary objects Alex Byrne
2. Empirical evidence and the metaphysics of ordinary objects Thomas Hofweber
3. Basic objects as grounds: a metaphysical manifesto Bill Brewer
4. Ordinary objects Javier Cumpa
5. Objects, ordinary and otherwise John Heil
6. In defence of ordinary objects and a naturalistic answer to the special composition question Jonas Waechter and James Ladyman
7. Compound natural beings: varieties of compositional unity Gary S. Rosenkrantz
8. How can thought select between coincident material things? Rory Madden
9. Against analytic existence entailments Peter van Inwagen
10. Mass production Simon Evnine
11. Pragmatism, ontology and ordinary objects Lynne Rudder Baker
12. What can global pragmatists say about ordinary objects? Amie L. Thomasson
13. There are no such things as ordinary objects Steven French.

Subject Areas: Philosophy: metaphysics & ontology [HPJ], Philosophy [HP]