Individuals, Essence and Identity: Themes of Analytic Metaphysics

Introduction.- Part One: Ontology and Analysis. The Question of Realism. Words and Objects.- Part Two: Essence and Existence. Being and Essence in Contemporary Interpretations of Aristotle. Some Comments on Prof. Enrico Berti's Paper "Being and Essence in Contemporary Interpretations of Aristotle". Existence, Identity, and Aristotelian Tradition. Orenstein on Existence and Identity. Abstract Objects: A Case Study. Kinds, Essence, and Natural Necessity. Kinds of Necessity: a Commentary on E.J. Lowe's Paper.- Part Three: Identity. Aristotle's Notion of Identity. Sameness in Aristole's Topics. Identity and Supervenience. Comments on Wiggings's Paper "Identity and Supervenience". Vagueness, Identity, and Leibniz's Law. Williamson on Vagueness, Identity, and Leibniz's Law. Origins and Identities. Forbes on Origins and Identities.- Part Four: Time and Persistence. Leibniz, Composite Substances and the Persistence of Organic Things. On Naturalising Leibniz (a Reply to Anthony Savile). Temporal Parts and Identity Across Time. Van Inwagen on Temporal Parts and Identity Across Time. Change and Change-Ersatz. Starting over.- List of Contributors.- Bibliography.- Index of Names.