Ontology, Identity, and Modality: Essays in Metaphysics (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy)

This book gathers together thirteen of Peter van Inwagen's essays on metaphysics, several of which have acquired the status of modern classics in their field. They range widely across such topics as Quine's philosophy of quantification, the ontology of fiction, the part-whole relation, the theory of "temporal parts," and human knowledge of modal truths. A specially-written introduction completes the collection, which will be an invaluable resource for anyone interested in metaphysics.
Summary: Collection of some of the best recent work in metaphysics
Rating: 5
Peter van Inwagen is one of the best metaphysicians writing today, and this book includes some of his best work previously available only in journals. It includes his defense of three-dimensionalism (and attack on four-dimensionalism), his attack on the idea that there are multiple levels of being (a view often attributed to Meinong), his defense of a moderate modal skepticism of a sort, and lots of other work from one of the most influential and creative metaphysicians of our time.
The introduction includes a great summary of van Inwagen's work up to the time of publication and some detailed thoughts on the papers reprinted here. Many of these thoughts indicate his further thoughts on the matter or even in some cases where he's changed his mind in a substantive way or changed how he thinks the material would best be presented. In some ways this introduction is like some of David Lewis' postscripts to papers in his two volumes of collected papers entitled Philosophical Papers. So the introduction itself is worth having for his continued thoughts on some of these issues.
All said, this collection is definitely worth having.