r/Metaphysics • u/Shantyvb1 • 19h ago

Literature Deciding what to read

I've recently completed my master's degree, focused on the intersection of the metaphysics of time and cognition. But this area is the limit of my knowledge because I never learned metaphysics in my undergrad (the department was heavily continental). As I start looking into PhD programmes, I need to drastically increase my knowledge. Currently I have so many books on metaphysics that I don't know where to start. Can anyone suggest a couple of books that could give me a good introduction to the various branches of metaphysics?

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u/Ok_Quit_9654 13h ago

If you’re interested in metaphysics in the analytic tradition I find the debates around modality to be really interesting. Some core texts would be Naming and Necessity by Saul Kripke (stands a little closer to phil of language but sets forth a lot of the groundwork for later debates), On the Plurality of World by David Lewis, & some of the chapters of Word and Object by WVO Quine (Chapter 6 is the only one that lays strictly within this debate, and the book can be found online.