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Single Idea 12978
[filed under theme 10. Modality / C. Sources of Modality / 5. Modality from Actuality
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Full Idea
One mark of a perfect idea is that it shows conclusively that the object is possible.
Gist of Idea
A perfect idea of an object shows that the object is possible
Source
Gottfried Leibniz (New Essays on Human Understanding [1704], 2.31)
Book Ref
Leibniz,Gottfried: 'New Essays on Human Understanding', ed/tr. Remnant/Bennett [CUP 1996], p.268
A Reaction
Subtle but nice. My favourite example would be that the perfect idea of a bonfire on the Moon shows that it is not possible. Essence reveals necessity, as Aristotle and Kit Fine claim. A perfect idea has a single definition.
The
15 ideas
with the same theme
[all modal facts are grounded in the actual facts]:
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3013
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Nothing is stronger than necessity, which rules everything
[Thales, by Diog. Laertius]
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12978
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A perfect idea of an object shows that the object is possible
[Leibniz]
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5483
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Essentialists deny possible worlds, and say possibilities are what is compatible with the actual world
[Ellis]
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16436
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Modal concepts are central to the actual world, and shouldn't need extravagant metaphysics
[Stalnaker]
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17572
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Actuality proves possibility, but that doesn't explain how it is possible
[Inwagen]
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12186
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Modal realists hold that necessities and possibilities are part of the totality of facts
[McFetridge]
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6080
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Modality is not objects or properties, but the type of binding of objects to properties
[McGinn]
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14689
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Necessity and possibility are not just necessity and possibility according to the actual world
[Salmon,N]
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11108
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Your properties, not some other world, decide your possibilities
[Jubien]
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11111
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Modal truths are facts about parts of this world, not about remote maximal entities
[Jubien]
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11118
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Modal propositions transcend the concrete, but not the actual
[Jubien]
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10745
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Science is modally committed, to disposition, causation and law
[Oliver]
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15025
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The world does not contain necessity and possibility - merely how things are
[Sider]
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12468
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A state of affairs is only possible if there has been an actual substance to initiate it
[Pruss]
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12466
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All modality is in the properties and relations of the actual world
[Jacobs]
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