Gamwell's latest book is a collection of eight essays which, with the exception of two, were originally published separately. They are gathered and arranged as a discussion of the titular metaphysical necessity—on which we will have more to say shortly. First, there are some general observations to be made.
The introduction lays out the plan of chapters and is so direct that a summary of the book is difficult without rehearsing its introduction. There are, on Gamwell's lights, two senses of the term metaphysics, each with a corresponding sense of necessity. The book is broken down into two major parts of four chapters a piece, with each chapter framed in terms of a conversation with one or two primary interlocutors. Each major section in turn addresses one sense of metaphysics. Chapter 1 introduces the strict sense of metaphysics, corresponding to the pre-Kantian use of the term—the general features of reality...
