Properties

by Mellor, D. H.; Oliver, Alex

• ISBN13: 9780198751762
• ISBN10: 0198751761
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-05-08
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

About the Series: The aim of this series is to bring together important recent writings in major areas of philosophical inquiry, selected from a variety of sources, mostly periodicals, which may not be conveniently available to the university student or the general reader. The editors of each volume contribute anintroductory essay on the items chosen and on the questions with which they deal. A selective bibliography is appended as a guide to further reading. About this volume: When we say a certain rose is red, we seem to be attributing a property, redness, to it. But are there really such properties? If so, what are they like, how do we know about them, and how are they related to the objects which have them and the linguistic devices which we use to talk about them?This collection presents these ancient problems in a modern light. In particular, it makes accessible for the first time the most important contributions to the contemporary controversy about the nature of properties. Those new to the subject will find the clearly-written introduction, by twoexperts in the field, an invaluable guide to the intricacies of this debate. The volume illustrates very well the aims and methods of modern metaphysics and shows how a thorough understanding of the metaphysics of properties is crucial to most of analytic philosophy.

Author Biography

D. H. Mellor is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Darwin College. His books include The Facts of Causation (1995), Matters of Metaphysics (1991), and Real Time (1981).
Alex Oliver is University Assistant Lecturer in Philosophy at Cambridge University, and Fellow of and Director of Studies in Philosophy at Queens College, Cambridge. He was previously Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Function and Concept

The World of Universals

On Our Knowledge of Universals

Universals

V,. On What There Is

Statements About Universals

Ostrich Nominalism or Mirage Realism?

Against Ostrich Nominalism: A Reply to Michael Devitt

On the Elements of Being: I

The Metaphysics of Abstract Particulars

Tropes

Properties

Modal Realism at Work

New Work For a Theory of Universals

Causality and Properties

Properties and Predicates

Notes on the Contributors

Select Bibliography

Index of Names

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