QUESTION POOL
Spring 2011
Metaphysics MA Comp Exam
Suppose Bertha traveled to Calais one time in her life, by swimming the English Channel. Is her
journey to Calais the same event as her swimming the English Channel? What is an event, and
how finely should events be distinguished from one another? What bearing does the analysis of
causation have on the best theory of events?
What are universals, and what are the best arguments for their existence? Do they succeed?
The death of correspondence theories of truth has been widely heralded. What exactly is a
correspondence theory of truth, and why would anyone be tempted to hold such? Why are such
theories supposed to be untenable? Are they?
Quine said, "No entity without identity." What did he mean? What can be said for and against his
slogan?
Sometimes if a cause hadn't happened, its effect wouldn't have happened either. Is it possible to
build a general analysis of causation on such counterfactual relations?
Is there any good reason to think that our ordinary ways of speaking of what might have
happened, what could have happened, and what could not have been avoided require an
ontological commitment to possible worlds?
Could two substances be perfect qualitative duplicates? What does this show about what a
substance is?
Does the past exist? Does the future? Is there an interesting difference between a nonpresent,
non-past object that will exist and a non-actual, merely possible object?
What relations must my beliefs and desires have to my choices, and my choices to my actions, if
my actions are to be reckoned to be free?
Philosophers often invoke Occam's razor in arguing against one or another theory. Are there any
good reasons to think that the razor or allied appeals (e.g., to "theoretical simplicity") are apt
guides to truth in metaphysics?
Why might someone hold that nothing has parts? Why might someone hold that everything has
parts? Is there a stable intermediate position?
Does the notion of primitive thisness make philosophical sense? Is it worth its philosophical
price? What is its philosophical price?