A World of States of Affairs

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Cambridge University Press, Mar 6, 1997 - Philosophy - 285 pages
In this important study D. M. Armstrong offers a comprehensive system of analytical metaphysics that synthesizes but also develops his thinking over the last twenty years. Armstrong's analysis, which acknowledges the 'logical atomism' of Russell and Wittgenstein, makes facts (or states of affairs, as the author calls them) the fundamental constituents of the world, examining properties, relations, numbers, classes, possibility and necessity, dispositions, causes and laws. It will appeal to a wide readership in analytical philosophy.
 

Contents

Preface
xi
Introduction
1
Some preliminary doctrines
11
Properties I
19
Properties II
47
Powers and dispositions
69
Relations
85
Particulars
95
Number
175
Classes
185
Totality states of affairs
196
Singular causation
202
Laws I
220
Laws II
242
The unity of the world
263
References
270

States of affairs
113
Independence
139
Modality
148

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