Quo Vadis, Metaphysics?: Essays in Honor of Peter Van Inwagen (Philosophical Analysis)

The old philosophical discipline of metaphysics - after having been pronounced dead by many - has enjoyed a significant revival within the last thirty years, due to the application of the methods of analytic philosophy. One of the major contributors to this revival is the outstanding American metaphysician Peter van Inwagen. This volume brings together twenty-two scholars, who, in commemoration of Prof. van Inwagen's 75th birthday, ponder the future prospects of metaphysics in all the richness to which it has now returned. It is only natural that logical and epistemological reflections on the significance of metaphysics - sometimes called "meta-metaphysics" - play a considerable role in most of these papers. The volume is further enriched by an interview with Peter van Inwagen himself. Contents Acknowledgements The Declaration of the Establishment of the International Society for Formal Ontology Introduction Part I: Peter van Inwagen – A Profile Interview with Peter van Inwagen Jonathan and Peter Part II: The Grounds and Ways of Metaphysics Where Are You Going, Metaphysics, and How Are You Getting There? – Grounding Theory as a Case Study On the Relevance of Grounds Metaphysical Differences A Van Inwagenian Defense of Constitutionalism Inside the Metaphysical Workshop Part III: Existence, Nonexistence, and Contradiction Existence Predicates Modes of Being and the Mind Imagining Fictional Characters Objects That Are Not Objects Part IV: Composition, Organisms, and Persons The Concept of Organism and Degrees of Composition Peter van Inwagen and the Hylomorphic Renaissance Remnant-Persons: A Commonsense Defence of Animalism Part V: Abstract Beings, Nominalism, and Infinity Van Inwagen’s Approach to Relations and the Theory of O-Roles Properties, Nominalisms and Things That Can Be Said Paraphrase: A (More or Less) Van Inwagenian Way toward (Moderate) Nominalism The Problem of the Many: Supervaluation, Rough Sets and Faultless Disagreement Realizability as a Kind of Truth-Making Part VI: God, Theodicy, and the Best World Optimalism in Explaining the Nature of Things Van Inwagen on Testimony and Contingency The Problem of Evil and Atonement Resisting Rowe’s No-Best-World Argument for Atheism Deficiencies of Gödel’s Ontological Proof Authors of Contributed Papers Person Index Subject Index One of the major contributors to this revival is the outstanding American metaphysician Peter van Inwagen. This volume brings together twenty-two scholars, who, in commemoration of Prof. van Inwagen's 75th birthday, ponder the future prospects of metaphysics in all the richness to which it has now returned. It is only natural that logical and epistemological reflections on the significance of metaphysics sometimes called meta-metaphysics play a considerable role in most of these papers. The volume is further enriched by an interview with Peter van Inwagen himself. $c --From publisher's description The series offers a publication forum for innovative works on all topics of analytic philosophy. The focus is on the disciplines of theoretical philosophy: metaphysics, ontology, epistemology, philosophy of language, logic. Furthermore, works that additionally include contributions to the history of philosophy are also welcome.