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Single Idea 16376

[filed under theme 10. Modality / E. Possible worlds / 1. Possible Worlds / d. Possible worlds actualism ]

Full Idea

The possible is necessarily general…..It is only actuality, the force of existence, which bursts the fluidity of the general and produces a discrete unit.

Gist of Idea

The possible can only be general, and the force of actuality is needed to produce a particular

Source

Charles Sanders Peirce (works [1892]), quoted by François Recanati - Mental Files 13.1

Book Ref

Recanati,François: 'Mental Files' [OUP 2012], p.162

A Reaction

[Papers 4 1967:147] This was quoted by Prior, and is often cited. Recanati is interested in the notion of a singular thought being tied to actuality, by generating a mental file.

The 13 ideas with the same theme [proposal that only our actual world exists]:

16376 The possible can only be general, and the force of actuality is needed to produce a particular [Peirce]
11003 The best version of reductionist actualism around is Armstrong's combinatorial account [Armstrong, by Read]
16472 Plantinga's actualism is nominal, because he fills actuality with possibilia [Stalnaker on Plantinga]
18383 Plantinga says there is just this world, with possibilities expressed in propositions [Plantinga, by Armstrong]
16433 Given actualism, how can there be possible individuals, other than the actual ones? [Stalnaker]
11869 Possible worlds rest on the objects about which we have suppositions [Wiggins]
18415 The actual world is just the world you are in [Lewis, by Cappelen/Dever]
16441 Lewis rejects actualism because he identifies properties with sets [Lewis, by Stalnaker]
16282 Ersatzers say we have one world, and abstract representations of how it might have been [Lewis]
15791 What are the ontological grounds for grouping possibilia into worlds? [Lycan on Lewis]
15790 Lewis can't know possible worlds without first knowing what is possible or impossible [Lycan on Lewis]
10996 Actualism is reductionist (to parts of actuality), or moderate realist (accepting real abstractions) [Read]
16188 Serious Actualism says there are no facts at all about something which doesn't exist [Simchen]