Full Idea
The 'modal realist' holds that part of the totality of what is the case, the totality of facts, are such things as that certain events could have happened, certain propositions are necessarily true, if this happened then that would have been the case.
Gist of Idea
Modal realists hold that necessities and possibilities are part of the totality of facts
Source
Ian McFetridge (Logical Necessity: Some Issues [1986], §2)
Book Reference
-: 'Aristotelian Society' [], p.140
A Reaction
I am an enthusiastic modal realist. If the aim of philosophy is 'to understand' (and I take that to be the master idea of the subject) then no understanding is possible which excludes the possibilities and necessities in things.