Matters of Metaphysics

D. H. Mellor is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy in the University of Cambridge and an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

• Preface; Introduction; Part I. Minds: 1. Analytic philosophy and the self; 2. I and now (1989); 3. Consciousness and degrees of belief (1980); 4. How much of the mind is a computer? (1988); 5. (with Tim Crane) There is no question of physicalism (1990); Part II. Properties and Laws: 6. In defence of dispositions (1974); 7. Natural kinds (1977); 8. Necessities and universals in natural laws (1980); 9. Laws, chances and properties (1990); 10. Properties and predicates; Part III. Causation: 11. McTaggart, fixity and coming true (1981); 12. The singularly affecting facts of causation (1987); 13. On raising the chances of effects (1988); Part IV. Prediction and Decision: 14. Chance and degrees of belief (1982); 15. The warrant of induction (1988); 16. Objective decision making (1983); References.

"The papers are briskly and clearly written, and vigorously argued, as any acquaintance with Mellor's work would lead one to expect....In a short review, it is impossible to adequately convey the richness of this collection. It stands as evidence of Mellor's lasting contribution to contemporary analytic metaphysics." Alex Byrne, The Philosophical Review