The Blackwell Guide to Metaphysics is a definitive introduction to the core areas of metaphysics. It brings together sixteen internationally respected philosophers who demonstrate how metaphysics is done as they examine topics including causation, temporality, ontology, personal identity, idealism, and realism.

Although metaphysics has been under attack for a long time now, and from a variety of quarters in philosophy, the essays in this volume demonstrate that there is a wide range of important questions which cannot be productively addressed without coming to terms with its questions and commitments.

This book engages both general readers and specialists and provides a solid foundation for further study.

Richard M. Gale is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh. He is the author of On the Nature and Existence of God (1991) and The Divided Self of William James (1999).