Single Idea 19008

[catalogued under 10. Modality / A. Necessity / 2. Nature of Necessity]

Full Idea

Necessity and possibility had a revival with the development of modal logic, treating them as special cases of the existential and universal quantifiers, ranging over an infinity of possible worlds.

Gist of Idea

The modern revival of necessity and possibility treated them as special cases of quantification

Source

Barbara Vetter (Potentiality [2015], 1.1)

Book Reference

Vetter,Barbara: 'Potentiality: from Dispositions to Modality' [OUP 2015], p.2


A Reaction

The problem seems to be that possible worlds offer a very useful and interesting 'model' of modality, but say nothing at all about its nature. Any more than a weather map will show you what weather is.