First published in 1999. Despite being discussed in great depth by Plato and Aristotle, metaphysics has been a neglected area of philosophy, for much of the twentieth century. In recent years, however, there has been an enormous growth of interest in analytical metaphysics, and the aim of the present series has been to collect together, in a single convenient resource, many of the most important and influential recent articles that have been written on metaphysical questions. Metaphysics is perhaps the most wide-ranging field within philosophy. In the present series, however, the focus is upon topics that arise within metaphysics itself, as these usually involve the most fundamental ontological issues. Thus, among the topics covered in this series are ones concerning the nature of particulars, identity over time, competing theories of properties, the metaphysics of necessity and possibility, the nature of laws, and of causation, and the nature of time, and its relation to both causation and change. Individual volumes are: Volume 1. Laws of Nature, Causation and Supervenience (081533062) 384 pages Volume 2. Time and Causation (0815330650) 408 pages Volume 3. The Nature of Properties: Nominalism, Realism and Trope Theory (0815330669) 392 pages Volume 4. Particulars, Actuality and Identity over Time (0815330677) 408 pages Volume 5. Necessity and Possibility: The Metaphysics of Modality (081533382X) 424 pages