This volume contains six new and fifteen previously published essays - plus a new introduction - by Storrs McCall. Some of the essays were written in collaboration with E. J. Lowe of Durham University. The essays discuss controversial topics in logic, action theory, determinism and indeterminism, and the nature of human choice and decision. Some construct a modern up-to-date version of Aristotle's bouleusis, practical deliberation. This process of practical deliberation is shown to be indeterministic but highly controlled and the antithesis of chance. Others deal with the concept of branching four-dimensional space-time, explain non-local influences in quantum mechanics, or reconcile God's omniscience with human free will. The eponymous first essay contains the proof of a fact that in 1931 Kurt Gödel had claimed to be unprovable, namely that the set of arithmetic truths forms a consistent system.

Storrs McCall's profile page

Storrs McCall studied philosophy at McGill University and at Oxford. He taught for six years at the University of Pittsburgh and for five years at Makerere University, Uganda, where he initiated the subject and was the first instructor of philosophy. He works in logic and analytic philosophy and has written extensively on the metaphysics of space and time.

"The essays are uniformly crisp, well-written, technical...and make valuable contributions to their respective literatures... I learned much about many topics from the book. McCall's contributions are indispensable, and anyone interested in his recent work on contemporary metaphysics and action theory will appreciate this collection."

--Metascience

"...I generally enjoyed reading this collection of essays. McCall presents his views with clarity and at a welcome pace, and they deserve serious attention."

--Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews Online