Common Sense Metaphysics

Luis R.G. Oliveira is assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Houston. He has published numerous articles in refereed journals, on topics in epistemology, ethics, and religion. He is also the director of the LATAM Bridges in the Epistemology of Religion, an international project focused on connecting Latin American philosophers to the Anglophone philosophical world.Kevin J. Corcoran is professor of philosophy at Calvin University. He is the author of Rethinking Human Nature (2006), the co-author of Church in the Present Tense (2011), and the editor of Soul, Body and Survival (2001). He has also published numerous articles in refereed journals, on topics in metaphysics, mind, and religion.

"Lynne Rudder Baker was one of the foremost metaphysicians of her time. Opposing the contemporary trend to explain aspects of our world in terms of posits of fundamental physics, Baker defended important nonreductive views about a range of phenomena including persons, minds, and ordinary material objects. In this new collection, eminent scholars in philosophy discuss various aspects of Baker’s thought—from her Constitution View of human persons to her positions on arguments about the existence of God. Whether or not one is persuaded by Baker’s common-sense approach, it is clear that her ideas warrant deep attention. This volume will be of interest to theorists and students of metaphysics for years to come." – Jacob Berger, Lycoming College, USA

• Introduction 1KEVI N J. CORCORAN AND LUIS R.G. OLIVEIRAPART IOn Practical Realism about the Mind 111 What Is a Concept? 13CHRISTOPHER HILL2 Practical Realism about the Self 39CAROLYN DICEY JENNINGS3 Propositional Attitudes as Self-Ascriptions 54ANGELA MENDELOVICI4 Saving Physicalism 75JANET LEVINPART IIOn the Constitution View 935 Constitution, Non-reductivism, and Emergence 95DERK PEREBOOM6 The Threat of Thinking Things into Existence 114KATHRIN KOSLICKI7 Unkind Persons: A Critique of Baker’s Constitution View 137KEVIN CORCORAN AND PAUL MANATA8 Constitution and Personal Identity 158MARYA SCHECHTMANPART IIIOn the First-Person Perspective 1759 On Baker on the First Person 177JOSEPH LEVINE10 The Missing Self 194JOHN PERRY11 Naturalism and Non-qualitative Properties 209SAM COWLING12 Persons First Metaphysics 239EINAR DUENGER BOHNPART IVOn God, Christianity, and Naturalism 25313 Speaking about Things Independently of WhetherThey Exist 255PETER VAN INWAGEN14 Constitution, Persons, and the Resurrection of the Dead 271THOMAS D. SENOR15 Putnam and Baker on Naturalism 292MARIO DE CARO16 Naturalism and “Robust” Subjectivity: A Critique of Baker 306LOUISE ANTONYNotes on Contributors 331Index 333