More Kinds of Being

E.J. Lowe (1950-2014) was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Durham. One of the foremost metaphysicians working in philosophy during his time, he was the author of numerous influential articles and books in metaphysics, philosophy of mind and the history of philosophy, including Kinds of Being (Blackwell, 1989) and, more recently, The Four-Category Ontology: A Metaphysical Foundation for Natural Science (2006).

Preface vii Acknowledgements xi 1 Introduction 1 The Varieties of 'Is' 3 Individuals, Kinds, and Realism 4 Semantics, Metaphysics, and Necessity 6 New Developments 8 2 Sortal Terms and Criteria of Identity 12 3 Individuals, Sorts, and Instantiation 29 4 Number, Unity, and Individuality 42 5 The Absoluteness of Identity: A Defence 57 Appendix: Some Formal Principles and Arguments 72 6 Identity and Constitution 77 7 Parts and Wholes 92 8 Persons and Their Bodies 104 Matter and Organisms 104 Organisms and Persons 113 Is There a Criterion of Personal Identity? 125 9 Sortal Terms and Natural Laws 141 10 Plural Quantification and Sortal Reference 164 11 Laws, Dispositions, and Sortal Logic 179 Appendix: An Axiomatic System of Sortal Logic 194 12 What Sorts of Things Are There? 198 The Syntax and Semantics of Complex Sortal Terms 198 On the Identity of Sorts 212 Bibliography 217 Index 223