Single Idea 16957

[catalogued under 10. Modality / E. Possible worlds / 1. Possible Worlds / a. Possible worlds]

Full Idea

The equation of a possible world with the way that the (actual) world might be is wrong: the way a distant world might be is not a way the world might be, but a way we might allow it to be given how some intervening world might be.

Gist of Idea

Possible worlds aren't how the world might be, but how a world might be, given some possibility

Source

Michael Dummett (Could There Be Unicorns? [1983], 8)

Book Reference

Dummett,Michael: 'The Seas of Language' [OUP 1993], p.347


A Reaction

The point here is that a system of possible worlds must include relative possibilities as well as actual possibilities. Dummett argues against S5 modal logic, which makes them all equal. Things impossible here might become possible. Nice.