Ontology, Causality, and Mind

D. M. Armstrong is an eminent Australian philosopher whose work over many years has dealt with such subjects as: the nature of possibility, concepts of the particular and the general, causes and laws of nature, and the nature of human consciousness. This collection of essays explores the many facets of Armstrong\'s work, concentrating on his more recent interests. There are four sections to the book: possibility andidentity, universals, laws and causality and philosophy of mind. The contributors comprise an international group of philosophers from the United States, England and Australia. An interesting feature of the volume is that Armstrong himself has written responses to each of the essays. There is also a complete bibliography of Armstrong\'s writings.

Preface; Part I. Possibility and Identity: 1. Armstrong\'s new combinatorialist theory of modality William G. Lycan; 2. Many, but almost one David Lewis; Part II. The Theory of Universals: 3. Just like quarks? the status of repeatables Peter Forrest; 4. Sets are haecceities John Biglow; 5. Properties and predicates D. H. Mellor; Part III. Causality and Laws of Nature: 6. Are causal laws contingent? Evan Fales; 7. Laws of nature as a species of regularities J. J. C. Smart; 8. Power for realists C. B. Martin; 9. Laws of nature, modality and humean supervenience Peter Menzies; Part IV. Consciousness and Secondary Qualities: 10. Block\'s challenge Frank Jackson; 11. David Armstrong and realism about colour Keith Campbell; Bibliography of the works of D. M. Armstrong; Index.