Alyssa Ney

Metaphysics: An Introduction, Second Edition combines comprehensive coverage of the core elements of metaphysics with contemporary and lively debates within the subject. It provides a rigorous and yet accessible overview of a rich array of topics, connecting the abstract nature of metaphysics with the real world. Topics covered include: basic logic for metaphysicsan introduction to ontologyabstract objectsmaterial objectscritiques of metaphysicsnatural and social kindsthe metaphysics of race and gendergrounding and fundamentalityfree willtimemodalitypersistencecausation.This outstanding book not only equips the reader with a thorough knowledge of the fundamentals of metaphysics, but provides a valuable guide to contemporary metaphysics and metaphysicians.New for this second edition are updated sections on metaphysical indeterminacy; new sections on manipulation arguments and free will and neuroscience; and new chapters on the important topics of social ontology, fundamentality, and grounding.Additional features such as exercises, annotated further reading, a glossary, and a companion website https://routledgetextbooks.com/textbooks/9780815350491 have also been updated and will help students find their way around this subject and assist teachers in the classroom.

Metaphysics: An Introduction, Second Edition combines comprehensive coverage of the core elements of metaphysics with contemporary and lively debates within the subject. It provides a rigorous and yet accessible overview of a rich array of topics, connecting the abstract nature of metaphysics with the real world. Topics covered include: basic logic for metaphysicsan introduction to ontologyabstract objectsmaterial objectscritiques of metaphysicsnatural and social kindsthe metaphysics of race and gendergrounding and fundamentalityfree willtimemodalitypersistencecausation.This outstanding book not only equips the reader with a thorough knowledge of the fundamentals of metaphysics, but provides a valuable guide to contemporary metaphysics and metaphysicians.New for this second edition are updated sections on metaphysical indeterminacy; new sections on manipulation arguments and free will and neuroscience; and new chapters on the important topics of social ontology, fundamentality, and grounding.Additional features such as exercises, annotated further reading, a glossary, and a companion website https://routledgetextbooks.com/textbooks/9780815350491 have also been updated and will help students find their way around this subject and assist teachers in the classroom.

If quantum theories of the world are true-and empirical evidence suggests they are-what do they tell us about us, and the world? How should quantum theories make us reevaluate our classical conceptions of material objects? Nearly a century after the development of quantum theories, a consensus has yet to emerge. Many still wonder about what these theories may be telling us about ourselves and our place in the universe. Alyssa Ney here defends and develops a particular framework for understanding the world as it is described by quantum theories. This framework was initially suggested by Schrödinger in the 1920's and was further defended as an account of reality by two philosophers of physics in the 1990's who described it as a necessary point of view for those who argue that quantum theories are correct representations of our world. This framework is called wave function realism, which interprets quantum theories such that its central object is the quantum wave function, interpreted as a field on an extremely high-dimension space. This theory views us, and all objects, as ultimately constituted out of the wave function, and though we seem to occupy three dimensions, the fundamental spatial framework of quantum worlds consists of many more dimensions. Alyssa Ney argues for and advances this view, with the goal of making a case for how this theory how it might be applied to more other relativistic quantum theories, including quantum field theories. Her conclusion develops an account of how we as human beings might ultimately see ourselves and the objects around us as constituted out of the wave function.