A Companion to Metaphysics

<Back flap copy>  About the Editor Since its first publication, A Companion to Metaphysics has established itself as the leading one–volume reference resource in the field. This extended and revised new edition brings the Companion up to date. A new section of longer review essays focuses on the major topics that continue to have an abiding centrality for the field and which have seen significant developments in recent years, including Fictional Entities, Individuation, Persistence, Realism & Anti–realism about Abstract Entities, as well as Causation, Free Will, the Mind/Body Problem, Modality, Space & Time, and Substance. In addition the central A–Z section, consisting of nearly three hundred entries, has been extended with new entries on emerging topics and major metaphysicians, and the existing entries have been brought up to date where necessary. Written by leading figures in the field and offering comprehensive coverage of both historical and contemporary metaphysics and from analytic and continental traditions, the entries in this extensively cross–referenced volume combine to form a complete and up–to–date reference guide for students and professionals alike. <Back panel> Blackwell Companions to Philosophy This outstanding student reference series offers a comprehensive and authoritative survey of philosophy as a whole. Written by today’s leading philosophers, each volume provides lucid and engaging coverage of the key figures, terms, topics, and problems of the field. Taken together, the volumes provide the ideal basis for course use, representing an unparalleled work of reference for students and specialists alike. Recent titles in the Blackwell Companions to Philosophy series include: The Blackwell Companion to Philosophy, Second Edition Edited by Nicholas Bunnin and Eric Tsui–James A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy (two–volume set), Second Edition Edited by Robert E. Goodin and Philip Pettit A Companion to the Philosophy of Biology Edited by Sahotra Sarkar and Anya Plutynski A Companion to Hume Edited by Elizabeth S. Radcliffe A Companion to the Philosophy of History and Historiography Edited by Aviezer Tucker A Companion to Aristotle Edited by Georgios Anagnostopoulos