This unit explores the most basic philosophical questions about the whole of reality: What is real, and what is merely appearance? What is the relation between being and becoming? What are universals? What is change? How can something change, and yet remain itself? What is the relation between freedom and determinism? It will consider the ideas of key thinkers, both ancient and modern. Finally it will examine Heidegger’s critique of metaphysics as onto-theology, and introduce some contemporary attempts to go beyond traditional metaphysical categories.

Undergraduate Prerequisites

Graduate and Postgraduate Prerequisites (AP330)

one unit of philosophy; e.g., AP351 or AP350

Requirements

3 hours per week

Undergraduate Assessment

Graduate and Postgraduate Assessment (AP330)

Equivalent to 6,000 words.
See Coursework Assessment for Graduate and Postgraduate Students.

Bibliography

• Aquinas, St. Thomas. De Ente et Essentia.
• Aristotle. Physics; On the Soul; Metaphysics.
• Copleston, Frederick C. A History of Philosophy. Vols 1–5. London: Burns & Oates, 1946–60.
• Heidegger, Martin. “The Onto-theo-logical Constitution of Metaphysics.” In Identity and Difference, Translated by Joan Stambaugh. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002.
• Hume, David. A Treatise of Human Nature.
• Kant, Immanuel. Critique of Pure Reason. Translated and edited by Paul Guyer and Allen W. Wood. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
• Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.
• Loux, Michael J. Metaphysics. London: Routledge, 1998.
• MacDonald, Cynthia. Varieties of Things: Foundations of Contemporary Metaphysics. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005.
• Plato. Phaedo; Republic; Parmenides.
• Van Inwagen, Peter, and Dean Zimmerman. Metaphysics: The Big Questions. Oxford: Blackwell, 1998.