For millennia, philosophers have debated about the existence of things - not only the existence of things like God, demons and the soul, but things like mathematical objects, qualities and attributes, or merely possible states of affairs and people. Ontology is the present-day name for the part of philosophy that addresses such questions. Being attempts to answer these old questions-and the question of how one should go about attempting to answer them.\nThis book presents and defends a meta-ontology and an ontology. Quine has taught us to use the word 'ontology' as a label for the part of philosophy that addresses "the ontological question" - 'What is there?' Meta-ontology, then, is the part of philosophy that addresses two questions, 'What is it to be (or to exist)?' and 'How should one attempt to answer the ontological question?' Chapters 1 and 5 are devoted to meta-ontology - Chapter 1 to a defense of the "neo-Quinean" meta-ontology, Chapter 5 to an examination of various alternative meta-ontologies. The essence of neo-Quineanism is that 'x exists' and 'Something is x' and 'The number of things that are x is not 0' mean more or less the same thing'. Neo-Quineanism obviously entails that there are no non-existent things, for nothing is such that nothing is it and everything is such that the number of things identical with it is 1. Chapter 2 is an examination of various positions that imply that there are non-existent things. The 
topic of Chapter 3 is the ancient "problem of universals," or the problem of the existence and nature of abstract objects. Chapter 4 is devoted to questions concerning possible worlds and other objects belonging to the ontology of modality.

Being: A Study in Ontology

Van Inwagen, Peter

Religion & Spirituality

Oxford University Press

"This is an important book, and no one interested in issues which touch on the free will will want to ignore it."--Ethics. In this stimulating and thought-provoking book, the author defends the thesis that free will is incompatible with determinism. He disputes the view that determinism is necessary for moral responsbility. Finding no good reason for accepting determinism, but believing moral responsiblity to be indubitable, he concludes that determinism should be rejected.

An Essay on Free Will

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy that attempts to answer the deepest questions about how things really are. The author builds his textbook around these crucial questions: what are the most general features of the world; why does the world exist and what is the nature of rational beings and their place in the world. This text surveys the traditional answers to these questions and shows by example how to think about them more clearly and deeply on one's own. It introduces most of the perennial topics of metaphysics, including appearance and reality, identity and individuation, objectivity, necessary existence of mind and body, teleology and freedom of the will.

Metaphysics (Dimensions of Philosophy)

The vast amount of suffering in the world is often held as a particularly powerful reason to deny that God exists. Now, one of the world's most distinguished philosophers of religion presents his own position on the problem of evil. Highly accessible and sensitively argued, Peter van Inwagen's book argues that such reasoning does not hold: his conclusion is not that God exists, but that suffering cannot be shown to prove that He does not.

The Problem of Evil: The Gifford Lectures Delivered in the University of St. Andrews in 2003

Clarendon Press

It is generally supposed that the fact that the world contains a vast amount of suffering, much of it truly horrible suffering, confronts those who believe in an all-powerful and benevolent Creator with a serious problem: to explain why such a Creator would permit this. Many reflective people are convinced that the problem, the problem of evil, is insoluble. The reasons that underlie this conviction can be formulated as a powerful argument for the non-existence of God, the so-called argument from evil: If there were a God, he would not permit the existence of vast amounts of truly horrible suffering; since such suffering exists, there is no God. Peter van Inwagen examines this argument, which he regards as a paradigmatically philosophical argument. His conclusion is that (like most philosophical arguments) it is a failure. He seeks to demonstrate, not that God exists, but the fact that the world contains a vast amount of suffering does not show that God does not exist. Along the way he discusses a wide range of topics of interest to philosophers and theologians, such as: the concept of God; what might be meant by describing a philosophical argument as a failure; the distinction between versions of the argument from evil that depend on the vast amount of evil in the world and versions of the argument that depend on a particular evil, such as the Lisbon earthquake or the death of a fawn in a forest fire; the free-will defense; animal suffering; and the problem of the hiddenness of God.

The Problem of Evil

Metaphysics

Routledge

Do Numbers Exist? (Little Debates about Big Questions)

Lane Craig, William

In Do Numbers Exist? Peter van Inwagen and William Lane Craig take opposite sides on whether there are abstract objects, such as numbers and properties. Craig argues that there are no abstract objects, whereas Van Inwagen argues that there are. Their exchange explores various arguments about the existence and nature of abstract objects. They focus especially on whether our ordinary and scientific thought and talk commit us to abstract objects, surveying the options available to us and the objections each faces. The debate covers central problems and methods in metaphysics, and also delves into theological questions raised by abstract objects.Key Features: <ul> <li>Showcases the presentation and defense of two points of view on the existence of abstract objects, from two of the world's leading philosophers</li> <li>Presents definitions in an easily accessible form</li> <li>Provides frequent summaries of previously covered material</li> <li>Includes a glossary of all specialized vocabulary</li> </ul>

Ontology, Identity, and Modality: Essays in Metaphysics (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy)

This book gathers together thirteen of Peter van Inwagen's essays on metaphysics, several of which have acquired the status of modern classics in their field. They range widely across such topics as Quine's philosophy of quantification, the ontology of fiction, the part-whole relation, the theory of "temporal parts," and human knowledge of modal truths. A specially-written introduction completes the collection, which will be an invaluable resource for anyone interested in metaphysics.

Cambridge University Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Van Inwagen, Peter. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Van Inwagen, Peter

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Van Inwagen, Peter. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Being: A Study in Ontology

An Essay on Free Will

Metaphysics (Dimensions of Philosophy)

The Problem of Evil: The Gifford Lectures Delivered in the University of St. Andrews in 2003

The Problem of Evil

Metaphysics

Do Numbers Exist? (Little Debates about Big Questions)

Do Numbers Exist? (Little Debates about Big Questions)

Ontology, Identity, and Modality: Essays in Metaphysics (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy)

Ontology, Identity, and Modality: Essays in Metaphysics (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy)