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The ability to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded. Key questions: How can free will be reconciled with determinism, if at all? What is the evidence that we have free will?

The view that determinism and free will are logically incompatible categories and that the existence of one implies the non-existence of the other. Key questions: What are the main arguments for incompatibilism? How do incompatibilists account for our experience of choosing?

A philosophical movement that emphasizes individual existence, freedom, and choice. Key questions: How does existentialism define the essence of human beings? What is the role of anxiety, absurdity, and death in existentialism?

The fundamental entity that exists independently. Key questions: What constitutes a substance? Can substances change and remain the same entity?

The worldview in which everything arises from natural properties and causes, and supernatural explanations are excluded or discounted. Key questions: How does metaphysical naturalism account for consciousness and values? What are the challenges to metaphysical naturalism?

The set of attributes that make an entity what it fundamentally is. Key questions: What is the difference between essence and accident? How does essence relate to identity?

The view that physical objects do not exist as things in themselves but only as sensory phenomena or perceptions. Key questions: What is the relationship between the phenomenon and the noumenon? How can phenomenalism address the continuity of objects?

The relationship between causes and effects. Key questions: What is the nature of causal relationships? How can we determine the causal connection between two events?

The frameworks within which we understand the position of objects relative to each other (space) and events in sequence (time). Key questions: What is the nature of space and time? Are space and time absolute, or are they relational and dependent on content?

Universals are properties or relations held in common by multiple particulars. Particulars are individual, distinct objects. Key questions: Do universals exist independently of particulars? How do universals relate to language and thought?

A philosopher's stance on what exists and what the criteria are for saying that something exists. Key questions: How do we determine what we are ontologically committed to? What is the debate between ontological pluralism and monism?

Properties that a substance has contingently, without which the substance can still exist. Key questions: How do accidents differ from essential properties? Can accidents change without affecting the substance?

The theory that all events, including moral choices, are completely determined by previously existing causes. Key questions: How does determinism challenge the concept of free will? Can determinism coexist with moral responsibility?

The position that universal or abstract concepts do not exist as independent entities but are mere names or labels. Key questions: How does nominalism explain the occurrence of shared traits in distinct objects? Can nominalism account for the meaningfulness of language?

Aristotelian concepts that distinguish between what things could be (potentiality) and what they are (actuality). Key questions: How does something move from potentiality to actuality? What role do potentiality and actuality play in metaphysics?

The position that some or all aspects of reality exist independently of perception or knowledge. Key questions: What is the nature of the reality that exists independent of our minds? How can we know something is real?

The belief that God or divine reality is identical to the universe and everything in it. Key questions: How does pantheism differ from traditional theism? What are the implications of pantheism for worship and morality?

Concepts that describe whether something could be (possible) or must be (necessary). Key questions: How do possibility and necessity relate to the concept of a world? What is the nature of modal logic?

The view that there are two fundamentally different kinds of substance or reality, such as mind and body. Key questions: How do the two substances interact? What are the arguments for and against dualism?

The concept that there is a reality that exists independent of our perceptions or beliefs. Key questions: How can we know there is an objective reality? What implications does this have for knowledge and truth?

The study of the cosmos' origin, structure, evolution, and eventual fate. Key questions: What is the ultimate composition of the universe? How does cosmology relate to metaphysical questions about space and time?

The philosophical theory that reality is fundamentally mental or spiritual. Key questions: How does idealism account for the apparent material world? What are the implications of idealism for knowledge and existence?

The belief that only one kind of substance or fundamental reality exists. Key questions: How does monism explain diversity in the world? What are the criticisms of monism?

The view that consciousness or a mind-like aspect is a universal feature of all things. Key questions: How can panpsychism explain the relationship between consciousness and matter? What are the arguments for and against panpsychism?

Concerns how an entity can remain the same through time while undergoing changes. Key questions: What are the criteria for an entity's identity over time? How can objects persist through change?

The belief that there are many different substances or realities. Key questions: How can pluralism account for unity in the world? What is the evidence for pluralism?

The belief that free will and determinism are compatible ideas, and it is possible to believe in both without contradiction. Key questions: How does compatibilism define free will? Can compatibilism provide a satisfactory account of moral responsibility?

The claim that causation between worldly events is not direct, but God intervenes on each occasion. Key questions: How does occasionalism explain consistent patterns in the world? What does it imply about the nature of God and causation?

Contingency refers to things that could have been otherwise, whereas necessity refers to states or things that must be the way they are. Key questions: What determines if a state of affairs is contingent or necessary? What is the modal status of laws of nature?