more on this theme | more from this thinker
Full Idea
The equation of a possible world with the way that the (actual) world might be is wrong: the way a distant world might be is not a way the world might be, but a way we might allow it to be given how some intervening world might be.
Gist of Idea
Possible worlds aren't how the world might be, but how a world might be, given some possibility
Source
Michael Dummett (Could There Be Unicorns? [1983], 8)
Book Ref
Dummett,Michael: 'The Seas of Language' [OUP 1993], p.347
A Reaction
The point here is that a system of possible worlds must include relative possibilities as well as actual possibilities. Dummett argues against S5 modal logic, which makes them all equal. Things impossible here might become possible. Nice.
16952 | If something is only possible relative to another possibility, the possibility relation is not transitive [Dummett] |
16953 | Relative possibility one way may be impossible coming back, so it isn't symmetrical [Dummett] |
16951 | It was realised that possible worlds covered all modal logics, if they had a structure [Dummett] |
16954 | Generalised talk of 'natural kinds' is unfortunate, as they vary too much [Dummett] |
16956 | To explain generosity in a person, you must understand a generous action [Dummett] |
16960 | If possibilitiy is relative, that might make accessibility non-transitive, and T the correct system [Dummett] |
16958 | In S4 the actual world has a special place [Dummett] |
16957 | Possible worlds aren't how the world might be, but how a world might be, given some possibility [Dummett] |
16959 | If possible worlds have no structure (S5) they are equal, and it is hard to deny them reality [Dummett] |