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Full Idea
Once we have discovered that water (in the actual world) is H2O, nothing counts as a possible world in which water isn't H2O.
Gist of Idea
If water is H2O in the actual world, there is no possible world where it isn't H2O
Source
Hilary Putnam (Meaning and Reference [1973], p.159)
Book Ref
'Meaning and Reference', ed/tr. Moore,A.W. [OUP 1993], p.159
A Reaction
Presumably there could be a possible world in which water is a bit cloudy, so the fact that it is H2O is being judged as essential. Presumably the scientists in the possible world might discover that we are wrong about the chemistry of water?
| 9168 | I can't distinguish elm trees, but I mean by 'elm' the same set of trees as everybody else [Putnam] |
| 5817 | Language is more like a cooperative steamship than an individual hammer [Putnam] |
| 5818 | If water is H2O in the actual world, there is no possible world where it isn't H2O [Putnam] |
| 5819 | Conceivability is no proof of possibility [Putnam] |
| 9169 | A statement can be metaphysically necessary and epistemologically contingent [Putnam] |
| 5820 | 'Water' has an unnoticed indexical component, referring to stuff around here [Putnam] |
| 9170 | We need to recognise the contribution of society and of the world in determining reference [Putnam] |