The aim of this book is to introduce the philosophically curious to the central topics of contemporary metaphysics.

We expect that our audience will include undergraduate philosophy majors who have maybe already taken an introductory survey course in philosophy or a first course in symbolic logic, and who are now enrolled in a course devoted solely to topics in metaphysics. We also expect that our audience will include graduate students in philosophy who are either getting their first opportunity to tackle contemporary metaphysical issues or are looking for a book to keep on hand as a useful resource as they undertake a rigorous research seminar on some specific metaphysical topic. We hope that many more reflective minds, ranging from the contemplative layperson to sages of the philosophical professoriate, will find our text valuable as a source of sober reasoning and at least the occasional insight.

We have written this book as teachers. Though we realize that there is no way to keep our own philosophical commitments from seeping into our arguments and our choice of topics, we have tried not to make the book a forum for advancing metaphysical doctrines. We have gone out of our way to introduce topics and arguments without pressuring the reader to settle on any definite conclusions. In fact, the reader will find scattered about lots of spots where we cut off the discussion in order to identify the pros and cons of a particular thesis and then move on to another issue.