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Full Idea
Just as a sentence is necessary if it holds in all worlds, so it is causally necessary if it holds in all worlds compatible with the laws of nature.
Gist of Idea
Causal necessities hold in all worlds compatible with the laws of nature
Source
David Lewis (Counterpart theory and Quant. Modal Logic [1968], V)
Book Ref
Lewis,David: 'Philosophical Papers Vol.1' [OUP 1983], p.37
A Reaction
I don't believe in the so-called 'laws of nature', so I'm not buying that. Is there no distinction in Lewis's view between those sentences which must hold, and those which happen to hold universally?
| 16994 | Counterpart theory is bizarre, as no one cares what happens to a mere counterpart [Kripke on Lewis] |
| 11974 | Counterparts are not the original thing, but resemble it more than other things do [Lewis] |
| 11975 | If the closest resembler to you is in fact quite unlike you, then you have no counterpart [Lewis] |
| 11977 | Essential attributes are those shared with all the counterparts [Lewis] |
| 11976 | Aristotelian essentialism says essences are not relative to specification [Lewis] |
| 11979 | It doesn't take the whole of a possible Humphrey to win the election [Lewis] |
| 11978 | Causal necessities hold in all worlds compatible with the laws of nature [Lewis] |