{"product_id":"stuff-quality-structure-the-whole-go-9780198903659","title":"Stuff, Quality, Structure: The Whole Go","description":"\u003cem\u003eStuff, Quality, Structure\u003c\/em\u003e makes a case for \u003cem\u003eidentity metaphysics\u003c\/em\u003e. It defends \u003cem\u003ecategorial monism\u003c\/em\u003e, the view that there's only one fundamental metaphysical category, which Strawson calls 'stuff'. It argues for the ultimate metaphysical identity of things that other views hold to be irreducibly distinct. It rejects \u003cem\u003eseparatism\u003c\/em\u003e, which posits such irreducible metaphysical differences. The notions of object, process, property, state, and event seem to signal fundamental ontological differences, but these differences are superficial, according to identity metaphysics. The same goes for energy\/force\/laws of nature\/causation\/power: according to identity metaphysics, these are different ways of conceptualizing the same phenomenon, the best name for which is simply 'the nature of stuff'. More particularly: identity metaphysics opposes (1) \u003cem\u003eobject-property\u003c\/em\u003e separatism and (2) \u003cem\u003estuff-law\u003c\/em\u003e separatism. It then denies that (1) and (2) themselves are fundamentally different issues. Strawson also endorses 'stuff monism', the view that there is only one kind of fundamental stuff, and favours 'thing monism', the view that there is only one fundamental entity in reality. He then considers the place of the notion of structure in an account of concrete reality. Structure considered just as such is an abstract, wholly logico-mathematically characterizable phenomenon. If a structure is concretely realized it must be realized by something that isn't itself just a matter of structure. It is arguable, nevertheless, that a thing's structural nature may--and perhaps must--completely fix its non-structural nature in any world, or at least in any world to which the notion of structure is generally applicable.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGalen Strawson, \u003cem\u003eUniversity of Texas at Austin\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eGalen Strawson holds the President's Chair of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of \u003cem\u003eFreedom and Belief\u003c\/em\u003e (OUP, 1986, 2nd ed. 2010); \u003cem\u003eThe Secret Connexion: Causation, Realism, and David Hume\u003c\/em\u003e (OUP, 1989, 2nd ed. 2014); \u003cem\u003eMental Reality\u003c\/em\u003e (1994, 2nd ed. 2009), \u003cem\u003eSelves: An Essay in Revisionary Metaphysics\u003c\/em\u003e (OUP, 2009, revised ed. 2011); \u003cem\u003eLocke on Personal Identity: Consciousness and Concernment\u003c\/em\u003e (2011, 2nd ed. 2014); \u003cem\u003eThe Evident Connexion: Hume on Personal Identity\u003c\/em\u003e (OUP, 2011, 2nd ed. 2014); and \u003cem\u003eThe Subject of Experience\u003c\/em\u003e (OUP, 2017).\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50893890191634,"sku":"9780198903659","price":52.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_6032bf8d-2054-4d22-9112-b9e52821fc8f.jpg?v=1738241351","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/stuff-quality-structure-the-whole-go-9780198903659","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}