Metaphysics of Ordinary Things

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course explores the unfamiliar sides of familiar things we encounter in life, e.g., time, physical objects, artifacrs, from a philosophical viewpoint. Over the course of the class, we will raise fundamental questions about what metaphysical elements underwrite and explain the most ordinary parts of our daily life, such as how a physical object retains its identity over time, whether time really flows or the passage of time is just an illusion, and what is the basis of similarities in colors, size, etc., among different things. Students will read introductory books on these topics along with some representative articles selected from the philosophical literature.