Analytic Metaphysics

The Course

This course consists in an overview of central themes in analytic metaphysics viewed from a broadly realist perspective. We begin with a historical overview of analytic metaphysics and a discussion of general categories such as universals, particulars, processes, dispositions and functions. We then extend these general categories to specific areas such as social reality, documents and document acts, disease, money, and war. The course will be of interest not only to philosophers but also to those interested in ontological applications.

Department of Philosophy: Special Topics PHI 598. Registration number: 24232

Time: Tuesdays, 1-3:50pm, Spring 2016

Room: 141 Park Hall, UB North Campus

Instructor: Barry Smith

Office hours: Tuesdays, 12:15-1pm and by appointment via email to [1]

Recommended background reading

R. Arp, B. Smith, A. D. Spear, Building Ontologies with Basic Formal Ontology

John R. Searle, Making the Social World

E. J. Lowe, The Four Category Ontology

Roman Ingarden, The Literary Work of Art. An Investigation on the Borderlines of Ontology, Logic, and Theory of Language

- February 2: Analytic Metaphysics: Introduction and Historical Background

• Aristotle
• Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein
• Husserl and the Polish School
• Contemporary Analytic Metaphysics
• Universals and Particulars

Pieces of a Theory

• Slides
• Video

- February 9: Roles, Dispositions and Social Ontology

• Building Ontologies with Basic Formal Ontology, Chapter 5
• Massively Planned Social Agency
• Document Acts and the Ontology of Social Reality
• John Searle: From Speech Acts to Social Reality

• Slides Contents
• Video

- February 16: Roles, Dispositions and Social Ontology: Part 2

• Massively Planned Social Agency
• Slides
• Video

See also materials here

- February 23: Analytic Metaphysics: Introduction (continued)

• Three-Dimensionsalism and Four-Dimensionalism
• Universals and Instances
• Fiat Objects
• Sites and Boundaries

Maureen Donnelly, "Endurantist and Perdurantist Accounts of Persistence"

• Slides
• Video

- March 1: Material Entities, Process Profiles and Granular Partitions

• Classifying Processes: An Essay in Applied Ontology
• On Classifying Material Entities in Basic Formal Ontology

• Slides
• Video

- March 8: Mind, Language, Truth, Reference and Aboutness

• Slides
• Video 1
• Video 2: About Aboutness

- March 22: Document Acts

• Document Acts
• Slides

- March 29: Money

Money and Fictions

- April 12: Populations, Communities, Groups, Organizations

On Place and Space: The Ontology of the Eruv

- April 19: Terrorism, Wars and Warfighting

Defining Terrorism

- April 26: Presentations of Student Projects 1

John Beverley: Basic Formal Ontology

J. Neil Otte: Game Theory Ontology

Kejin Cui: Ontology and Spatial Relations Between Land Types

Brian Donohue: Deontic Ontology

Daniel Shaffer: Law

Alec Sculley: Tolerable Delinquency

- May 3: Presentations of Student Projects 2

Jeon-Young Kang: Infectious Disease

Fumiaki Toyoshima: Schizophrenia

Carter Benson: Terrorism

Francesco Franda: Terrorism

Uriah Burke: Film

Ben Lawrence: Drawing

Grading and Related Policies and Services

All students will be required to take an active part in class discussions throughout the semester and to prepare a paper on some relevant topic. The paper should be submitted in a draft version on or before March 29, and in final form on or before May 3. A powerpoint version will be presented in class in one or other of the two closing sessions .

Your grade will be determined in three equal portions deriving from:

1. class participation (2.5% per class attended)

2. paper (3000 words; deadline for draft: March 29; deadline for final version: May 3)

3. class presentation (graded according to quality of powerpoint slides, quality of delivery, and quality of response to questions)

For policy regarding incompletes see here

For academic integrity policy see here

For accessibility services see here