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Full Idea
It seems to me that identity-relations among concepts have more to do with explaining how we know that vixens are female foxes etc., than with explaining why it is necessary, and, more generally, with explaining why some necessities are knowable a priori.
Gist of Idea
Concept-identities explain how we know necessities, not why they are necessary
Source
Bob Hale (The Source of Necessity [2002], P.313)
Book Ref
-: 'Philosophical Perspectives' [-], p.313
A Reaction
Hale rejects the conceptual and conventional accounts of necessity, in favour of the essentialist view. This strikes me as a good suggestion of Hale's, since I agree with him about the essentialism.
| 24030 | 3+4=7 is necessary because we cannot conceive of seven without including three and four [Descartes] |
| 18796 | Formal experience conditions show what is possible, and general conditions what is necessary [Kant] |
| 22018 | Necessary truths derive from basic assertion and negation [Fichte, by Pinkard] |
| 15216 | Is conceptual necessity just conventional, or does it mirror something about nature? [Harré/Madden] |
| 15235 | There is a conceptual necessity when properties become a standard part of a nominal essence [Harré/Madden] |
| 16422 | The necessity of a proposition concerns reality, not our words or concepts [Stalnaker] |
| 16423 | Conceptual possibilities are metaphysical possibilities we can conceive of [Stalnaker] |
| 13810 | The source of de dicto necessity is not concepts, but the actual properties of the thing [Forbes,G] |
| 12028 | De re necessity is a form of conceptual necessity, just as de dicto necessity is [Forbes,G] |
| 11169 | Conceptual necessities rest on the nature of all concepts [Fine,K] |
| 15087 | Conceptual necessities are made true by all concepts [Hale] |
| 12436 | Concept-identities explain how we know necessities, not why they are necessary [Hale] |
| 15033 | Humeans says mathematics and logic are necessary because that is how our concept of necessity works [Sider] |