This is a textbook that is co-authored by John W. Carroll and me. It is a monograph (rather than an anthology), and it is meant to be useful for an upper-level undergraduate course or a first- or second-year graduate course. It is also meant to be useful to someone who is just curious about what the subfield of philosophy called “metaphysics” is all about. (John and I are currently working on a second edition, so if you have suggestions or comments, please email one of us.)

Bibliographic information: An Introduction to Metaphysics, by John W. Carroll and Ned Markosian. Cambridge University Press, 2010.

On the Cambridge University Press website here.

On Amazon here.

Here is a 4-page excerpt from the beginning of Chapter 1 (Introduction), wherein John and I attempt to say what metaphysics is.

Here is a 3-page excerpt from the beginning of Chapter 3 (Freedom and Determinism), in which we introduce The Problem of Freedom and Determinism.

Here is a 5-page excerpt from Chapter 4 (Laws of Nature), introducing the notion of a law of nature.

Here is a 3-page excerpt from Chapter 6 (Mental States), in which we introduce The Mind-Body Problem.

And here is a 4-page excerpt from the beginning of Chapter 7 (Time), wherein John and I summarize McTaggart’s famous argument against the reality of time.