Meta-metaphysics

Jiri Benovsky began to study metaphysics to try to find a proof that the world really exists. He did not find that proof, but at least he found a job at the University of Fribourg, in Switzerland, where he can not only go in the mountains but also spend his days thinking about things like existence, reality, possible worlds, and most of all - time. Time and philosophical problems surrounding it have always fascinated him to the degree that he devoted half of his first book to it ("Persistence through time and across possible worlds", 2006), as well as a number of articles in international journals. He is also the author of two other books, including one on the philosophy of photography (which, yes, also includes a chapter on how time is represented in photographs).

• Introduction.- Part I : On equivalence and primitiveness.- Chapter 1. Equivalent metaphysical theories.- Chapter 2. Partially equivalent metaphysical theories.- Chapter 3. Non-equivalent metaphysical theories.- Chapter 4. The importance of being primitive.- Part II. How to make a choice between metaphysical theories?.- Chapter 5. How not to make a choice between metaphysical theories.- Chapter 6. On intuitions and experience - the marriage (and divorce) of phenomenology and metaphysics.- Chapter 7. The beauty of metaphysics.- Chapter 8. Anti-realism.

“Jiri Benovsky’s book is a useful, thought-provoking, and engaging contribution to the literature on ‘meta-metaphysics’. Whilst the core topics under discussion are ‘meta’ or second-order issues … this book will likely be best appreciated by those already somewhat versed in the theories under consideration (most centrally, bundle theory and substratum theory, endurantism and perdurantism, and presentism and eternalism). … this is a thought-provoking book, and one that is an excellent addition to the growing interest in the methodology of metaphysics.” (J. T. M. Miller, dialectica, Vol. 71 (4), 2017)“Benovsky presents an original if controversial meta-metaphysical picture supported by exceptionally detailed and insightful case studies. … Thisbook is without doubt crucial reading for anyone interested in the growing literature on the methodology of metaphysics, but I would regard it perhaps even more important for those interested in the various first order debates that Benovsky analyzes.” (Tuomas E. Tahko, Notre Dame Philosophical Rerviews, ndpr.nd.edu, July, 2016)