Part IA Paper 01: Metaphysics 2021-2022
Syllabus
•
•
•
•
•
Causation
Free will
Induction and Miracles
Personal Identity
Mind and Matter: Dualism and Functionalism
Course Outline
This course examines a wide range of metaphysical topics of perennial interest.
The primary question about causation is simply: what is it for one thing to cause another? Your alarm clock
may go off every morning just before sunrise; but it doesn’t cause the sun to rise; so what is missing?
The question of free will is immediately related: what is it to have free will? Certain accounts of free will
suggest that there is a tension between the existence of free will and the existence of (deterministic) laws of
nature.
But if there are these laws of nature, what are they, how do we learn about them, and what would it mean
for them to be broken? These are the questions raised in the topic of induction and miracles.
The final two topics concern minded beings. The question of personal identity asks what we are,
metaphysically speaking, and what it takes for us to persist through time? Relatedly, one might ask what it
is to have a mind, and here we consider two classic views: dualism and functionalism.
Objectives
Students will be expected to:
1. Acquire knowledge of some of the main metaphysical claims and arguments.
2. Acquire an understanding of how these claims and arguments relate to one another.
3. Engage in close criticism with the claims and arguments studied.
4. Develop their own powers of philosophical analysis and argument through study of metaphysics.
Reading List
Reading on this list is divided into two sections: (A) Introductory reading: a good place to start, to familiarise
yourself with the issue and the central arguments. (B) Further reading: things to read in order to further
develop your views, deepening and broadening your knowledge.
Preliminary Reading
Meditations on First Philosophy, with selections from the objections and replies : a Latin-English
edition
Author: Descartes, René; Additional Person Name: edited and translated by John Cottingham; Type: Book;
Publication Date: 2013; Publisher: Cambridge University Press; Place of publication: Cambridge; Tags: Available
online, Recommended reading;
Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
Author: Hume, David; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Enquiries Concerning Human Understanding and
Concerning the Principles of Morals; Book Author: Hume, David; Editor: L.A. Selby-Bigge; Edition: 3rd ed.;
Publication Date: 1975; Publisher: Clarendon; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online,
Recommended reading;
The Problems of Philosophy
Author: Russell, Bertrand; Type: Book; Edition: 2nd ed.; Publication Date: 2001; Publisher: Oxford University
Press; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading;
1
Metaphysics
Author: Van Inwagen, Peter; Type: Book; Edition: 4th ed.; Publication Date: 2015; Publisher: Westview Press;
Place of publication: Boulder, CO; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading;
'The mechanical mind'
Author: Bayne, Tim; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Thought : a very short introduction; Book Author: Bayne, Tim;
Publication Date: 2013; Publisher: Oxford University Press; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online,
Recommended reading;
Reasons and Persons
Author: Derek. Parfit; Type: Book; Publication Date: 1984; Publisher: Clarendon; Place of publication: Oxford;
Tags: Available online, Recommended reading;
Causation
You might start with these introductory texts:
'Causation'
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Crane, Tim; Book Title: Philosophy 1: A guide through the subject; Pages:
184 - 194; Editor: A.C. Grayling; Publication Date: 1998; Publisher: Oxford University Press; Place of publication:
Oxford; Tags: Available online, Scan available;
'Causation'
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Salmon, Wesley; Book Title: The Blackwell Guide to Metaphysics; Pages: 19
- 42; Editor: Richard M. Gale; Publication Date: 2002; Publisher: Blackwell; Place of publication: Oxford; Source:
https://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/permalink/f/t9gok8/44CAM_ALMA51621868880003606; Tags: Available online;
Hume's view
Start with Hume himself:
(A) Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
Author: Hume, David; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Enquiries Concerning Human Understanding and
Concerning the Principles of Morals; Book Author: Hume, David; Editor: L.A. Selby-Bigge; Edition: 3rd edition;
Publication Date: 1975; Publisher: Clarendon; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online,
Recommended reading; Public note: Read Section 4;
(A) Treatise of Human Nature
Author: Hume, David; Additional Person Name: edited by L.A. Selby-Bigge; Type: Book; Edition: 2nd edition;
Publication Date: 1978; Publisher: Clarendon Press; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online,
Recommended reading; Public note: Read Book 1.iii, sections 1, 2 & 14;
(A) 'Causation and necessary connection'
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Beebee, Helen; Book Title: The Bloomsbury Companion to Hume; Pages:
131 - 145; Editor: Alan Bailey and Dan O'Brien; Publication Date: 2012; Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic; Place of
publication: London; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading, Scan available; Public note: The proper
interpretation of Hume has been much disputed. Offers a brief survey.;
(B) Hume on Causation
Author: Beebee, Helen; Type: Book; Publication Date: 2006; Publisher: Routledge; Place of publication: London;
Tags: Available online, Further reading; Public note: Offers a more detailed discussion of the proper way to read
Hume.;
(B) Causality and Determination: An inaugural lecture
Author: Anscombe, G. E. M.; Type: Book; Publication Date: 1971; Publisher: Cambridge University Press; Place
of publication: London; Tags: Further reading; Notes: Reprinted in P. van Inwagen and D. W. Zimmerman, eds.,
Metaphysics: The Big Questions. 2nd ed. (Oxford: Blackwell, 2008); also in E. Sosa and M. Tooley, eds., Causation
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), pp. 88-104; and in E. Sosa, ed., Causation and Conditionals (London: Oxford
University Press, 1975).; Public note: Contests Hume's account. More difficult.;
2
Humean successors
(A) 'Causation'
The Journal of Philosophy
Author: Lewis, David; Type: Article; Pages: 556 - 567; Publication Date: 1973; Volume: 70; Issue: 17; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading; Public note: Develops an alternative account of causation, picking up on
another idea of Hume’s. Difficult.;
(A) 'Lewis's programme'
Author: Horwich, Paul; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Asymmetries in Time : Problems in the philosophy of
science; Book Author: Horwich, Paul; Pages: 167 - 176; Publication Date: 1987; Publisher: MIT Press; Place of
publication: Cambridge, Mass.; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading, Scan available; Notes: Reprinted in
E. Sosa and M. Tooley, eds., Causation (Oxford Readings in Philosophy) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), pp.
208-16.; Public note: Criticises the above;
(A) 'Causes and counterfactuals'
The Journal of Philosophy
Author: Kim, Jaegwon; Type: Article; Pages: 570 - 572; Publication Date: 1973; Volume: 70; Issue: 17; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;
(A) 'Causes and conditions'
American Philosophical Quarterly
Author: Mackie, J. L.; Type: Article; Pages: 245 - 264; Publication Date: 1965; Volume: 2; Issue: 4; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading; Notes: Reprinted in E. Sosa, ed., Causation and Conditionals, (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1975), pp. 15-38.; Public note: Many contemporary descendants of Hume have understood
causes as events that lawfully suffice for their effects. Advances one such account.;
(B) 'Causes and events: Mackie on causation'
The Journal of Philosophy
Author: Kim, Jaegwon; Type: Article; Pages: 426 - 441; Publication Date: 1971; Volume: 68; Issue: 14; Tags:
Available online, Further reading; Notes: Reprinted in E. Sosa, ed., Causation and Conditionals (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1975), pp. 48-62.; Public note: Criticism of Mackie.;
(B) Causation: A user's guide
Author: Paul, L.A.; Additional Person Name: Ned Hall; Type: Book; Publication Date: 2013; Publisher: Oxford
University Press; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online, Further reading; Public note: Presents a
clear review of the contemporary debate, and of the vast set of examples (preemption, overdetermination, omission
etc.) that have come to dominate it.;
Free Will
Freedom and determinism
Start with two classic defences of compatibilism
(A) Enquiry concerning human understanding, Section 8
Author: Hume, David; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Enquiries Concerning Human Understanding and
Concerning the Principles of Morals; Book Author: Hume, David; Editor: L.A. Selby-Bigge; Edition: 3rd ed.;
Publication Date: 1975; Publisher: Clarendon; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online,
Recommended reading;
(A) 'When Is a Man Responsible?'
Author: Schlick, Moritz; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Problems of Ethics; Book Author: Schlick, Moritz;
Publication Date: 1939; Publisher: Prentice-Hall; Place of publication: New York; Tags: Recommended reading;
Notes: Reprinted in B. Berofsky, ed., Free Will and Determinism (New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1966); Public note:
Another version of compatibilism. Quite readable. Link is to reprint in B. Berofsky, ed., Free Will and Determinism
(New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1966).;
3
(A) 'Human freedom and the self'
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Chisholm, Roderick; Book Title: Free Will; Pages: 26 - 37; Editor: Gary
Watson; Edition: 2nd ed.; Publication Date: 2003; Publisher: Oxford University Press; Place of publication:
Oxford; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading, Scan available; Notes: Also in P. van Inwagen and D. W.
Zimmerman, eds., Metaphysics: The Big Questions. 2nd ed. (Oxford: Blackwell, 2008).; Public note: Provides
criticism of the above. Classic statement of agent-causation view. Scan is from 1st edition (1982).;
(A) 'The incompatibility of free will and determinism'
Philosophical Studies
Author: Inwagen, Peter Van; Type: Article; Pages: 185 - 199; Publication Date: 1975; Volume: 27; Issue: 3; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading; Notes: Reprinted in G. Watson, ed., Free Will, 1st ed. only (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1982), pp. 46-58.; Public note: Fairly difficult. More ambitious readers may want to consult his An
Essay on Free Will (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983);
(A) 'Alternate possibilities and moral responsibility'
The Journal of Philosophy
Author: Frankfurt, Harry; Type: Article; Pages: 829 - 839; Publication Date: 1969; Volume: 66; Issue: 23; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading; Public note: Takes interesting alternative to the above;
(A) 'Freedom of the will and the concept of a person'
The Journal of Philosophy
Author: Frankfurt, Harry; Type: Article; Pages: 5 - 20; Publication Date: 1971; Volume: 68; Issue: 1; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading; Notes: Reprinted in G. Watson, ed., Free Will, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2003), pp. 322-36.; Public note: Influential attempt to account for freedom in terms of second-order
desires;
(A) 'Freedom and resentment'
Author: Strawson, P. F.; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Freedom and Resentment and Other Essays; Book
Author: Strawson, P. F.; Pages: 1 - 28; Publication Date: 1974; Publisher: Methuen; Place of publication:
London; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading; Notes: Reprinted in G. Watson, ed., Free Will. 2nd ed.
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), pp. 72-93.;
(B) Four Views on Free Will
Author: Fischer, John Martin; Type: Book; Publication Date: 2007; Publisher: Blackwell; Place of publication:
Oxford; Tags: Available online, Further reading; Public note: A clear presentation of a range of contemporary views;
(B) 'Free will, determinism, and the possibility of doing otherwise'
Noûs
Author: List, Christian; Type: Article; Pages: 156 - 178; Publication Date: 2014; Volume: 48; Issue: 1; Tags:
Available online, Further reading; Public note: A recent defence of a compatibilist position;
Fatalism
(A) 'On Interpretation'
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Aristotle; Book Title: The Philosophy of Time : A collection of essays; Pages:
179 - 182; Editor: Richard M. Gale; Publication Date: 1968; Publisher: Macmillan; Place of publication: London;
Tags: Available online, Recommended reading, Scan available; Public note: A classic statement of the issue;
(A) 'Fatalism'
Author: Ayer, A.J.; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: The Concept of a Person and Other Essays; Book Author:
Ayer, A.J.; Pages: 235 - 268; Publication Date: 1963; Publisher: Macmillan; Place of publication: London; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading, Scan available; Public note: Contains an influential 20th century
discussion;
(A) 'It was to be'
Author: Ryle, Gilbert; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Dilemmas: The Tarner Lectures 1953; Book Author: Ryle,
Gilbert; Pages: 15 - 35; Publication Date: 2015; Publisher: Cambridge University Press; Place of publication:
Cambridge; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading;
4
(A) 'Fate'
Author: Taylor, Richard; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Metaphysics; Book Author: Taylor, Richard; Pages: 55 67; Edition: 4th edition; Publication Date: 1992; Publisher: Prentice Hall; Place of publication: Englewood Cliffs,
N.J.; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading; Notes: An earlier version is 'Fatalism', Philosophical Review,
71, no. 1 (1962): 56-66. Also in R. Gale, ed., The Philosophy of Time (London: Macmillan, 1968).; Public note:
Readable defence of fatalism. Link is to an earlier version published as 'Fatalism', Philosophical Review, 71, no. 1
(1962): 56-66.;
(A) 'Fatalism'
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Bernstein, Mark; Book Title: The Oxford Handbook of Free Will; Editor:
Robert Kane; Publication Date: 2005; Publisher: Oxford University Press; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading; Public note: Discussion of a more recent work;
(B) 'De fato (On fate)'
Author: Cicero, M.T.; Additional Person Name: translated by H. Rackham; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: On the
Orator: Book 3. On Fate. Stoic Paradoxes. Divisions of Oratory; Book Author: Cicero, M.T.; Pages: 189 - 249;
Publication Date: 1942; Publisher: Harvard University Press; Place of publication: Cambridge, Mass.; Tags:
Available online, Further reading; Notes: Also in L.Zagzebski and T.D. Miller, eds., Readings in Philosophy of
Religion: Ancient to Contemporary (Oxford: Blackwell, 2009), pp. 244-59.;
(B) 'Fatalism'
Author: Van Inwagen, Peter; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: An Essay on Free Will; Book Author: Van Inwagen,
Peter; Chapter Number: 2; Publication Date: 1983; Publisher: Clarendon Press; Place of publication: Oxford;
Tags: Available online, Further reading, Scan available; Public note: Difficult but worth attempting.;
(B) 'Bringing About the Past'
The Philosophical Review
Author: Dummett, Michael; Type: Article; Pages: 338 - 359; Publication Date: 1964; Volume: 73; Issue: 3; Tags:
Available online, Further reading; Notes: Reprinted in his Truth and Other Enigmas (London: Duckworth, 1978), pp.
333-50; and in R. Le Poidevin and M. MacBeath, eds., The Philosophy of Time (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1993), pp. 252-74.; Public note: Demanding, but important paper;
Induction
(A) Enquiry concerning human understanding, Section 4
Author: Hume, David; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Enquiries Concerning Human Understanding and
Concerning the Principles of Morals; Book Author: Hume, David; Editor: L.A. Selby-Bigge; Edition: 3rd ed.;
Publication Date: 1975; Publisher: Clarendon; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online,
Recommended reading; Public note: The initial puzzle of induction;
(A) The Problems of Philosophy
Author: Russell, Bertrand; Type: Book; Edition: 2nd ed.; Publication Date: 2001; Publisher: Oxford University
Press; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading; Public note: Read chs. 6 & 7.
Further detail of induction puzzle.;
(A) Inference to the Best Explanation
Author: Lipton, Peter; Type: Book; Edition: 2nd ed.; Publication Date: 2004; Publisher: Routledge; Place of
publication: London; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading; Public note: Read chs. 6 & 7. Introduction to a
classical induction, which is now frequently subsumed under the broader notion of inference to the best explanation.;
(A) 'The Warrant of Induction'
Author: Mellor, David Hugh; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Matters of Metaphysics; Book Author: Mellor, David
Hugh; Pages: 254 - 268; Publication Date: 1991; Publisher: Cambridge University Press; Place of publication:
Cambridge; Tags: Recommended reading; Public note: Explores further the problem of induction;
(A) 'Inductive inference'
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Salmon, Wesley C.; Book Title: Readings in the Philosophy of Science;
Pages: 597 - 617; Editor: Baruch A. Brody; Publication Date: 1970; Publisher: Prentice-Hall; Place of publication:
Englewood Cliffs, NJ; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading, Scan available; Public note: Explores further
the problem of induction;
5
(A) The Rationality of Induction
Author: Stove, D. C.; Type: Book; Publication Date: 1986; Publisher: Clarendon; Place of publication: Oxford;
Tags: Available online, Recommended reading, Scan available; Public note: Further exploration of the problem of
induction. Chapter 1 'Induction presupposes angels' is available as a scan.;
(A) The ground of induction
Author: Williams, Donald Cary; Type: E-book; Publication Date: 1947; Publisher: Harvard university press; Place
of publication: Cambridge, Mass.; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading; Public note: Alternative reading:
this makes a similar argument if you can't get hold of the Stove;
(B) 'The new riddle of induction'
Author: Goodman, Nelson; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Fact, Fiction, and Forecast; Book Author: Goodman,
Nelson; Pages: 59 - 83; Edition: 4th ed.; Publication Date: 1983; Publisher: Harvard University Press; Place of
publication: Cambridge, MA; Tags: Available online, Further reading, Scan available; Public note: Poses a new
riddle of induction;
(B) 'Reichenbach and the limits of vindication'
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Putnam, Hilary; Book Title: Words and Life; Pages: 131 - 148; Editor: James
Conant; Publication Date: 1994; Publisher: Harvard University Press; Place of publication: Cambridge, MA; Tags:
Available online, Further reading, Scan available; Public note: An ingenious suggestion why the ‘new riddle’ should
be considered different from the old one;
(B) The Justification of Deduction
Author: Dummett, Michael; Type: Book; Publication Date: 1974; Publisher: Oxford University Press; Place of
publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online, Further reading; Notes: Reprinted in his Truth and Other Enigmas
(London: Duckworth, 1978), pp. 290-318.; Public note: Discusses whether deduction suffers from a similar problem;
Miracles
(A) Enquiry concerning human understanding, Section 10
Author: Hume, David; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Enquiries Concerning Human Understanding and
Concerning the Principles of Morals; Book Author: Hume, David; Editor: L.A. Selby-Bigge; Edition: 3rd edition;
Publication Date: 1975; Publisher: Clarendon; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online,
Recommended reading; Public note: The classic philosophical challenge concerning miracles;
(A) 'The Miraculous'
American Philosophical Quarterly
Author: Holland, R. F.; Type: Article; Pages: 43 - 51; Publication Date: 1965; Volume: 2; Issue: 1; Tags: Available
online, Recommended reading;
(A) 'Hume's Theorem' Concerning Miracles'
The Philosophical Quarterly
Author: Millican, Peter; Type: Article; Pages: 489 - 495; Publication Date: 1993; Volume: 43; Issue: 173; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;
(A) Miracles
Author: edited by Richard Swinburne; Type: Book; Publication Date: 1989; Publisher: Collier Macmillan; Place of
publication: London; Tags: Recommended reading;
(A) 'Miracles'
The Philosophical Quarterly
Author: Swinburne, R. G.; Type: Article; Pages: 320 - 328; Publication Date: 1968; Volume: 18; Issue: 73; Tags:
Available online; Public note: Alternative reading: read if you can't get hold of Miracles edited by Swinburne;
(B) 'Miracles'
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Author: McGrew, Timothy; Type: Article; Volume: Spring 2019 Edition; Tags: Available online, Further reading;
6
Personal Identity
(A) Personal Identity and Self-consciousness
Author: Garrett, Brian; Type: Book; Publication Date: 1998; Publisher: Routledge; Place of publication: London;
Tags: Available online, Recommended reading; Public note: A very readable account of the recent debate;
(A) 'Personal Identity'
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Olson, Eric; Book Title: The Blackwell Guide to Philosophy of Mind; Chapter
Number: 15; Editor: Stephen P. Stich & Ted. A Warfield; Publication Date: 2002; Publisher: Blackwell; Place of
publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading; Notes: A similar essay can be found online in
the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2017 ed.) [Online]. Available at:
https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2017/entries/identity-personal/.;
(A) Treatise of Human Nature
Author: Hume, David; Additional Person Name: edited by L.A. Selby-Bigge; Type: Book; Edition: 2nd edition;
Publication Date: 1978; Publisher: Clarendon Press; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online,
Recommended reading; Public note: Read book 1 part 4 sect. 6 and Appendix;
(A) An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
Author: Locke, John; Type: Book; Publication Date: 1979; Publisher: Clarendon Press; Place of publication:
Oxford; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading; Notes: Partly reprinted in J. Perry, ed., Personal Identity
(Berkeley: California University Press, 1975).; Public note: Read book II, ch. I, sects. 10-12, and ch. 27. Important
historical source. Difficult.;
(A) 'An Argument for Animalism'
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Olson, Eric; Book Title: Personal Identity; Pages: 318 - 348; Editor:
Raymond Martin and John Barresi; Publication Date: 2002; Publisher: Blackwell; Place of publication: Oxford;
Tags: Available online, Recommended reading;
(A) 'Personal Identity'
The Philosophical Review
Author: Parfit, Derek; Type: Article; Pages: 3 - 27; Publication Date: 1971; Volume: 80; Issue: 1; Tags: Available
online, Recommended reading; Notes: Reprinted in his Problems of the Self: Philosophical Papers 1956-1972
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973), pp. 46-63.; Public note: Classic statement of the view that 'identity
doesn't matter'. More ambitious readers can consult his Reasons and Persons (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1984), chs. 10-13. Also available online at: http://doi.org/10.1093/019824908X.001.0001];
(A) Personal Identity
Author: Parfit, Derek; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Reasons and Persons; Book Author: Parfit, Derek; Chapter
Number: Part 3; Publication Date: 1984; Publisher: Clarendon; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available
online, Recommended reading;
(A) 'The Self and the Future'
The Philosophical Review
Author: Williams, Bernard; Type: Article; Pages: 161 - 180; Publication Date: 1970; Volume: 79; Issue: 2; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading; Notes: Reprinted in his Problems of the Self: Philosophical Papers 19561972 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973), pp. 46-63;
(B) Personal Identity
Author: Noonan, Harold W.; Type: Book; Edition: 3rd edition; Publication Date: 2019; Publisher: Routledge; Place
of publication: London; Tags: Available online, Further reading; Public note: Read chapters 1, 7 & 10. A useful
survey, but difficult in places;
(B) The Human Animal: Personal identity without psychology
Author: Olson, Eric T.; Type: Book; Publication Date: 1997; Publisher: Oxford University Press; Place of
publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online, Further reading; Public note: A fuller presentation of his view;
7
(B) Personal Identity
Additional Person Name: edited by John Perry; Type: Book; Publication Date: 1975; Publisher: University of
California Press; Place of publication: Berkeley; Tags: Further reading; Public note: Selections from Locke (Book II,
Ch. 27 of Essay Concerning Human Understanding), Butler (Appendix of The Analogy of Religion), Reid (Essays on
the Intellectual Powers of Man, Essay III, Ch. 6 ) and Hume (Book 1 Part IV Sections 2 & 4 and Appendix of Treatise
of Human Nature);
(B) The Analogy of Religion
Author: Butler, Joseph; Type: Website; Publisher: Project Gutenberg; Tags: Available online, Further reading;
Public note: Alternative source of the Butler selection if you can't access the Perry;
(B) Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man
Author: Reid, Thomas; Type: Book; Publication Date: 2015; Publisher: Edinburgh University Press; Place of
publication: Edinburgh; Tags: Available online, Further reading; Public note: Alternative source of the Reid selection
if you can't access the Perry;
(B) Personal Identity
Author: Shoemaker, Sydney; Type: Book; Publication Date: 1984; Publisher: Basil Blackwell; Place of
publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online, Further reading, Scan available; Notes: Excerpts also in P. van Inwagen
and D.W. Zimmerman, eds., Metaphysics: The Big Questions. 2nd ed. (Oxford: Blackwell, 2008); Public note: Ch. 1
'The Dualist Theory' is available as a scan;
(B) 'Persons and Their Pasts'
American Philosophical Quarterly
Author: Shoemaker, Sydney; Type: Article; Pages: 269 - 285; Publication Date: 1970; Volume: 7; Issue: 4; Tags:
Available online, Further reading; Public note: Alternative reading: read in place of ch. 2 of the Shoeamaker &
Swinburne if you can't get hold of a copy;
(B) 'Personal Identity and Individuation'
Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society
Author: Williams, B.; Type: Article; Pages: 229 - 252; Publication Date: 1956; Volume: 57; Tags: Available online,
Further reading; Notes: Reprinted in his Problems of the Self: Philosophical Papers 1956-1972 (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1973), pp. 1-18.;
Mind and Matter
Philosophy of Mind: Classical and contemporary readings
Additional Person Name: edited by David Chalmers; Type: Book; Edition: Second edition; Publication Date: 2021;
Publisher: New York, NY; Place of publication: Oxford University Press; Public note: Most of the readings listed in
Dualism and Functionalism can be found in the first or second edition of this excellent anthology;
The Mechanical Mind: A philosophical introduction to minds, machines, and mental representation
Author: Crane, Tim; Type: Book; Edition: 3rd edition; Publication Date: 2016; Publisher: Routledge; Place of
publication: London; Tags: Available online; Public note: A useful introductory work;
Philosophy of Mind
Author: Kim, Jaegwon; Type: Book; Edition: 3rd edition; Publication Date: 2011; Publisher: Westview Press;
Place of publication: Boulder, Colorado; Tags: Available online; Public note: A clear and comprehensive survey of
different positions and questions in Philosophy of Mind;
What is Philosophy of Mind?
Author: McClelland, Tom; Type: Book; Publication Date: 2021; Publisher: Polity Press; Place of publication:
Cambridge; Public note: Alternative anthology if you can't get hold of the Chalmers;
Dualism
A central question in Philosophy of Mind is about how Mind and Body relate to each other. Are the mind and body
identical? Or are they distinct? Substance dualists take mind and body to be two distinct substances
8
(A) Meditations on First Philosophy, with selections from the objections and replies : a LatinEnglish edition
Author: Descartes, René; Type: Book; Publication Date: 2013; Publisher: Cambridge University Press; Place of
publication: Cambridge; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading; Notes: Reprinted in D.M. Rosenthal, ed.,
The Nature of Mind (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991); Public note: A classic source in dualism. Read chapters
2 and 6.;
(A) 'Selections of the Descartes-Elisabeth Correspondence'
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Elisabeth, Princess of Bohemia, and René Descartes; Book Title: Women
Philosophers of The Early Modern Period; Editor: Margaret Atherton; Publication Date: 1994; Publisher: Hackett;
Place of publication: Indianapolis; Tags: Recommended reading; Public note: Ebook link is to an alternative
edition: Lisa Shapiro, ed., The Correspondence between Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia and René Descartes,
(Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2007);
(B) 'Mental Causation'
Philosophy Compass
Author: Bennett, Karen; Type: Article; Pages: 316 - 337; Publication Date: 2007; Volume: 2; Issue: 2; Tags:
Available online, Further reading; Public note: Read sections 1-3;
(B) 'Dualism, monism, physicalism'
Mind and Society
Author: Crane, Tim; Type: Article; Pages: 73 - 85; Publication Date: 2000; Volume: 1; Issue: 2;
(B) Philosophy of Mind
Author: Kim, Jaegwon; Type: Book; Edition: 3rd edition; Publication Date: 2011; Publisher: Westview Press;
Place of publication: Boulder, Colorado; Tags: Available online, Further reading; Public note: Read chapters 1 and
2;
(B) 'Descartes’ Myth'
Author: Ryle, Gilbert; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: The Concept of Mind; Book Author: Ryle, Gilbert; Pages: 64
- 76; Publication Date: 1975; Publisher: Hutchinson; Place of publication: London; Tags: Available online, Further
reading; Notes: Also reprinted in D. Chalmers, ed., Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), p. 32-39.;
Functionalism
Functionalists model the mind on a machine
(A) 'Psychophysical and Theoretical Identifications'
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Lewis, David; Book Title: Philosophy of Mind : Classical and contemporary
readings; Pages: 88 - 94; Editor: David J. Chalmers; Publication Date: 2002; Publisher: Oxford University Press;
Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Recommended reading; Public note: Ebook link is to chapter in an alternative
edition: David Lewis, Papers in Metaphysics and Epistemology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999).;
(A) 'Mad Pain and Martian Pain'
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Lewis, David; Book Title: Readings in Philosophy of Psychology; Pages: 216
- 222; Editor: Ned Block; Publication Date: 1980; Publisher: Methuen; Place of publication: London; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading; Notes: Reprinted in D. Lewis, Philosophical Papers. Vol. I (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1983);
(A) 'The Nature of Mental States'
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Putnam, Hilary; Book Title: Philosophy of Mind: Classical and contemporary
readings; Pages: 79 - 85; Editor: David Chalmers; Edition: Second edition; Publication Date: 2021; Publisher:
New York, NY; Place of publication: Oxford University Press; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading;
Public note: Link is to a reprint in Readings in Philosophy of Psychology, Volume I, pp.223-231;
(B) 'Mental Causation'
Philosophy Compass
Author: Bennett, Karen; Type: Article; Pages: 316 - 337; Publication Date: 2007; Volume: 2; Issue: 2; Tags:
Available online, Further reading; Public note: Read sections 4-6.;
9
(B) 'Troubles with Functionalism'
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Block, Ned; Book Title: Philosophy of Mind: Classical and contemporary
readings; Pages: 99 - 103; Editor: David Chalmers; Edition: Second edition; Publication Date: 2021; Publisher:
New York, NY; Place of publication: Oxford University Press; Tags: Available online, Further reading; Public note:
Link is to a reprint of the full paper in Readings in the Philosophy of Psychology, Volume I, pp.268-306;
(B) 'Multiple Realizability'
Philosophy Compass
Author: Funkhouser, Eric; Type: Article; Pages: 303 - 315; Publication Date: 2007; Volume: 2; Issue: 2; Tags:
Available online, Further reading;
(B) 'In Defense of Mind Body Dualism'
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Gertler, Brie; Book Title: Reason and Responsibility: Readings in some basic
problems of philosophy; Pages: 285 - 297; Editor: Joel Feinberg and Russ Shafer-Landau; Edition: Sixteenth
edition; Publication Date: 2016; Publisher: Wadsworth; Place of publication: Belmont, MA; Tags: Further reading;
(B) Philosophy of Mind
Author: Kim, Jaegwon; Type: Book; Edition: 3rd edition; Publication Date: 2011; Publisher: Westview Press;
Place of publication: Boulder, Colorado; Tags: Available online, Further reading; Public note: Read chapters 5 and
6;
(B) 'Can Computers Think?'
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Searle, John; Book Title: Philosophy of Mind : Classical and contemporary
readings; Pages: 669 - 675; Editor: David J. Chalmers; Publication Date: 2002; Publisher: Oxford University Press;
Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online, Further reading, Scan available;
(B) 'Extended cognition and functionalism'
Journal of Philosophy
Author: Sprevak, Mark; Type: Article; Pages: 503 - 530; Publication Date: 2009; Volume: 106; Issue: 9; Tags:
Available online, Further reading;
Functionalism: continued
Many of our experiences – feeling pain, seeing blue, tasting chocolate – have a phenomenal quality. There’s
something it’s like to have those experiences. A thorny problem for Functionalists (and Philosophers of Mind more
generally) is how to account for this feature of our experience.
(A) 'Epiphenomenal Qualia'
The Philosophical Quarterly
Author: Jackson, Frank; Type: Article; Pages: 127 - 136; Publication Date: 1982; Volume: 32; Issue: 127; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading; Notes: Reprinted in D. Chalmers, ed., Philosophy of Mind: Classical and
Contemporary Readings (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002);
(B) 'What Is It Like to Be a Bat?'
The Philosophical Review
Author: Nagel, Thomas; Type: Article; Pages: 435 - 450; Publication Date: 1974; Volume: 83; Issue: 4; Tags:
Available online, Further reading; Notes: Reprinted in his Mortal Questions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1979), pp. 165-80;
Suggestions Welcome
We welcome your suggestions for further readings that will improve and diversify our reading lists, to reflect the best
recent research, and important work by members of under-represented groups. Please email your suggestions to
philosophy@lib.cam.ac.uk including the relevant part and paper number. For information on how we handle your
personal data when you submit a suggestion please see: https://www.information-compliance.admin.cam.ac.uk/dataprotection/general-data.
10