MAY 2007
METAPHYSICS COMP EXA
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Metaphysics MA COMP EXAM – MAY 2007
Answer one question from each part. Time limit: three hours
Part I
1. Philosophers as diverse as Kant, Moore and Kripke have struggled with the question “Is
existence a predicate?”. Exactly what hangs on this question and how is it to be answered?
2. It has sometimes been said that all there is to say about truth is what is said by sentences of the
form: A is true iff p, where A is a name of the sentence p. Compare a view of truth according to
which this is so with a view of truth that denies it. Evaluate.
3. Can conceptual analysis help us discover metaphysical truth?
Part II
4. Do all predicates express properties? If not, how do we tell which ones do and which ones
don’t?
5. Are there any good arguments for or against a four-dimensional ontology?
6. Do numbers and functions exist? Why or why not?
Part III
7. Actualism is the view that only actual objects exist. Presentism is the view that only the
present tme and its contents exist. Can an actualist allow that we refer to merely possible
objects? Can a presentist allow that we refer to objects in the past?
8. Can science tell us what is colored? If so, how? If not, how do we tell?
9. Suppose a person P1 with body B1 has one half of his brain transplanted into a body, B2, and
the other half transplanted into a body, B3. What happens in a scenario of this kind? What does
the position you take in connection with this kind of case say about our concept of personal
identity?
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