Single Idea 14625

[catalogued under 10. Modality / A. Necessity / 1. Types of Modality]

Full Idea

Modal thinking is logically equivalent to a type of counterfactual thinking. ...The necessary is that which is counterfactually implied by its own negation; the possible is that which does not counterfactually imply its own negation.

Gist of Idea

Necessity is counterfactually implied by its negation; possibility does not counterfactually imply its negation

Source

Timothy Williamson (Modal Logic within Counterfactual Logic [2010], 1)

Book Reference

'Modality', ed/tr. Hale,B/Hoffman,A [OUP 2010], p.83


A Reaction

I really like this, because it builds modality on ordinary imaginative thinking. He says you just need to grasp counterfactuals, and also negation and absurdity, and you can then understand necessity and possibility. We can all do that.