Necessity, Modality, and Essence

This is an introductory course in metaphysics. Metaphysics asks questions about the structure of reality, what kinds of things exist, what is essential to them, instead of just accidental, etc. In this course we will focus on key issues in metaphysics concerning the notions of necessity and possibility, and the notion of essence.  A central concern of our course will be with the development of the notion of modality, or modes of truth, such as necessity and possibility, as a key tool in explaining the fundamental metaphysical notions of essence, natural kinds, social kinds, etc. Each week we will read and discuss articles by contemporary philosophers, which will be provided on the course website.