1 Three Comments on Writing the Book of the World

Theodore Sider’s Writing the Book of the World is systematic, wide-ranging, intelligent, and interesting. It is sure to be influential, and deservedly so. Reading it and thinking about it have been a real pleasure. I am certain that I shall return to it again and again. 1. Multifaceted Metaphysics Sider’s book opens with this: Metaphysics, at bottom, is about the fundamental structure of reality. Not about what’s necessarily true. Not about what properties are essential. Not about conceptual analysis. Not about what there is. Structure. (1)1 But I reply that metaphysics is not—not even “at bottom”—about only one thing, and so not—not even “at bottom”—about only the fundamental structure of reality. Consider the following claims: free actions cannot be causally determined; true propositions concerning future actions do not preclude freedom; the fundamental bearers of truth and falsity are abstract objects; some properties are universals; all properties are qualitative; persisting objects have temporal parts; a physical object can be wholly located in more than one place at the same time; no two physical objects can be entirely in the same place at the same time; composition is unrestricted; every truth has a truthmaker; propositions are sets of possible worlds; possibly, nothing exists; absences are causally efficacious; each human being is essentially not a chimpanzee. 1 Unless otherwise noted, all page references are to Sider’s Writing the Book of the World (Oxford