Basic structures of reality : essays in meta-physics / Colin McGinn.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McGinn, Colin, 1950- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Physics--Philosophy.

Physics.

Metaphysics.

First philosophy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 243 pages)

Other Title:

Essays in meta-physics

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In Basic Structures of Reality, Colin McGinn deals with questions of metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of mind from the vantage point of physics. Combining general philosophy with physics, he covers such topics as the definition of matter, the nature of space, motion, gravity, electromagnetic fields, the character of physical knowledge, and consciousness and meaning. Throughout, McGinn maintains an historical perspective and seeks to determine how much we really know of the world described by physics. He defends a version of ""structuralism"": the thesis that our knowledge is partial a

Contents:

Part One; Introduction: Philosophy and Physics; 1. The Concept of Matter; Postscript: Particles as Fields: An Objection; Appendix 1: The Uniformity of Matter; Appendix 2: Divisibility and Size; 2. What Is a Physical Object?; 3. The Possibility of Motion; 4. Motion, Change, and Physics; 5. The Law of Inertia; 6. Mass, Gravity, and Motion; 7. Electric Charge: A Case Study; 8. Two Types of Science; 9. The Ontology of Energy; 10. Consciousness as a Form of Matter; 11. Matter and Meaning; Part Two; Foreword to Principia Metaphysica; Principia Metaphysica.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (viewed on Jan. 20, 2012).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0-19-020831-7

1-283-42788-5

9786613427885

0-19-990953-9

OCLC:

773946682