Christopher Peacocke, "The Primacy of Metaphysics" (Oxford UP, 2019)
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What is the basic question about meaning and metaphysics that frames the interview?
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Hello and welcome to New Books and Philosophy, a podcast channel of the New Books Network. I'm Carrie Figdoor, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Iowa. I'm co-host of the channel, along with Robert Talise, Alexis McLeod, and Sarah Tyson. Together we bring you conversations with philosophers about their new books in a wide range of areas of contemporary philosophical inquiry. Today's interview is with Christopher Peacock, Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University in New York. His new book is The Primacy of Metaphysics, which is just out from Oxford University Press. So basic question in mind and metaphysics is the relation between the nature of mental content or meaning and the nature of the domain of entities and relations to which those contents refer or what they are about.
Does an explanation of this relation require us to give meaning priority, or is instead the metaphysics of the domain always involved in explaining the content? In his new book, Peacock argues for the idea that the metaphysics of the domain must always be involved, that one must always draw on facts about metaphysics to explain meaning, but not vice versa. Peacock applies his general thesis to various specific domains, such as temporal phenomena and the self, and he considers how his thesis bears on such further issues as the integration of metaphysics and epistemology and the limits of intelligibility. The book is fascinating, and I hope you enjoy our conversation. Let's go to the interview. Hello, Christopher Peacock.
Welcome to New Books in Philosophy. Thank you.
Glad to be here.
Very excited to talk about your new book, The Primacy of Metaphysics. Um And uh you know, this is a basic topic in terms of the relationship between mind and meaning. uh or content uh and uh uh sorry, yeah, mind and and the world actually and uh meaning or content and reference. So before we get into the into the details of the book itself, um Uh can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you, you know, got interested in philosophy and then and then the genesis of this book?
Sure. So like uh many teenagers, um I was interested in questions of free will, discussed philosophical questions with my My friends, um I took quite a lot of courses in French in high school and we were introduced to Issues in existentialism, read weak low and la nausé and that itself. brought up various bits of philosophy. Um and so I studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford and I was completely captivated by the by the philosophy. Um the first weekend I remember up in Exeter College, Oxford, Um, went straight through the logic book. Uh it was E. J. Lemon speaking in logic and some Hume texts and uh uh I was set.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the basic question about meaning and metaphysics that frames the interview?
0:00–8:32
2
How does Peacocke define the “explanatory priority” problem and its three possible answers?
8:32–15:50
3
Why does Peacocke argue that the metaphysics of a domain must always be involved in explaining meaning?
15:50–23:57
4
What does the “metaphysics‑first” view look like and how does it differ from a meaning‑first view?
23:57–31:31
5
How are the ideas applied to specific domains such as space‑time, the self, and numbers?
31:31–39:39
6
Which cases illustrate a “no‑priority” relationship between metaphysics and content, and why?
39:39–47:04
7
What are the broader implications of the primacy thesis for epistemology, norms, and intelligibility?
47:04–54:36
8
What future projects does Peacocke plan that extend the themes of *The Primacy of Metaphysics*?
54:36–1:02:18
Speakers
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