The essays reprinted in this collection were written over a fifteen-year period (1987–2002). During this time I had the great privilege and pleasure of working in the Department of Philosophy at Princeton University, the Department of Philosophy at Monash University, and the Philosophy Program at the Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University. I have also had the good fortune to spend time as a visitor at the University of Arizona at Tucson, Bristol University, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Otago, Princeton University, Uppsala University, and Victoria University Wellington. I would like to thank the faculty and students of these institutions for their generous input when my ideas were given their first trial in a colloquium or graduate class or reading group, or over a cup of coffee or a drink down at the local pub.

Though I have corrected the occasional typographical error and put the references in uniform style, I decided that I would not substantially revise any of the essays for this reprinting. Since many of the essays have been responded to in print, it seemed best to reprint them warts and all. Having said that, however, let me immediately admit that there are places where I definitely regret having said what I said; but no matter how much I would like to, I see no real point in pretending that I didn't say what I said in the first place.