PH39C Coursework

You are asked to write an essay of about 2500 words.

If you have a topic you are particularly interested in, you may submit it for my consideration.  In no circumstances will it be accepted if you have not discussed it with me beforehand.

The topics I offer you are:

1. What is the significance of the fact that all our ordinary thinking and language operate with enduring things and not perduring time-slices?

2. Can we make a principled distinction between essential and accidental properties of a thing?

3. What are the main problems with a counterfactual analysis of causation?

4. Does "agent causation" give a valuable solution to the problem of free will?

5. Does Mellor (in 'The Time of Our Lives') avoid the absurdity of 'nowness' creeping along our world-lines?

6. Are universals abstract? 

Return to schedule.

Ed Brandon

February 5th, 2003