Single Idea 9596

[catalogued under 10. Modality / D. Knowledge of Modality / 4. Conceivable as Possible / a. Conceivable as possible]

Full Idea

The epistemology of modality often focuses on (and pours scorn on) imagination or conceivability as a test of possibility, while ignoring the role of the imagination in the assessment of mundane counterfactuals.

Gist of Idea

We scorn imagination as a test of possibility, forgetting its role in counterfactuals

Source

Timothy Williamson (The Philosophy of Philosophy [2007], 5.4)

Book Reference

Williamson,Timothy: 'The Philosophy of Philosophy' [Blackwell 2007], p.163


A Reaction

Good point. I've been guilty of this easy scorn myself. Williamson gives our modal capacities an evolutionary context. What is needed is well-informed imagination, rather than wild fantasy.