Metaphysics Cheat Sheet
The core ideas of Metaphysics distilled into a single, scannable reference — perfect for review or quick lookup.
Quick Reference
Ontology
The study of what exists and the categories of being. Ontology asks which entities are fundamental, how they relate, and what it means for something to be real. It is the core sub-discipline of metaphysics.
Substance and Properties
A substance is an independent, enduring entity that bears properties (attributes or qualities). The distinction between what a thing is in itself and the features it happens to have is central to metaphysical analysis.
Causation
The metaphysical relation between cause and effect. Theories of causation attempt to explain what it means for one event to bring about another, with major accounts including regularity theory, counterfactual theory, and powers-based approaches.
Free Will and Determinism
The debate over whether human agents have genuine freedom of choice. Determinism holds that every event is necessitated by prior causes, raising the question of how moral responsibility is possible if our actions are predetermined.
Personal Identity
The problem of what makes a person the same person over time and what constitutes the self. Major theories appeal to psychological continuity, bodily continuity, or a persisting soul.
The Mind-Body Problem
The question of how mental phenomena (thoughts, consciousness, qualia) relate to physical processes in the brain. Dualism posits two distinct substances; physicalism holds that everything is ultimately physical.
Possible Worlds
A framework for analyzing modal claims (necessity and possibility). A possible world is a complete, consistent way reality might have been. David Lewis argued that possible worlds are as real as the actual world (modal realism).
Universals and Particulars
Universals are properties or relations that can be instantiated by multiple particular things. The problem of universals asks whether redness, for instance, exists as a single abstract entity shared by all red objects or only as a label we apply.
Time and Persistence
Metaphysical theories about the nature of time include presentism (only the present is real), eternalism (past, present, and future are equally real), and the growing block theory. Persistence asks how objects endure through temporal change.
Necessity and Contingency
A necessary truth is one that could not have been false (e.g., 2 + 2 = 4). A contingent truth is one that happens to be true but could have been otherwise. This distinction is fundamental to modal metaphysics.
Key Terms at a Glance
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