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Single Idea 9065

[filed under theme 4. Formal Logic / D. Modal Logic ML / 3. Modal Logic Systems / h. System S5 ]

Full Idea

S5 collapses iterated modalities (so ◊□P → □P, and ◊◊P → ◊P).

Gist of Idea

S5 collapses iterated modalities (◊□P→□P, and ◊◊P→◊P)

Source

R Keefe / P Smith (Intro: Theories of Vagueness [1997], §5)

Book Ref

'Vagueness: a Reader', ed/tr. Keefe,R /Smith,P [MIT 1999], p.55


A Reaction

It is obvious why this might be controversial, and there seems to be a general preference for S4. There may be confusions of epistemic and ontic (and even semantic?) possibilities within a single string of modalities.

Related Idea

Idea 14690 In the S5 account, nested modalities may be unseen, but they are still there [Salmon,N]


The 17 ideas from 'Intro: Theories of Vagueness'

If someone is borderline tall, no further information is likely to resolve the question [Keefe/Smith]
The simplest approach, that vagueness is just ignorance, retains classical logic and semantics [Keefe/Smith]
Supervaluationism keeps true-or-false where precision can be produced, but not otherwise [Keefe/Smith]
A third truth-value at borderlines might be 'indeterminate', or a value somewhere between 0 and 1 [Keefe/Smith]
Vague predicates involve uncertain properties, uncertain objects, and paradoxes of gradual change [Keefe/Smith]
Many vague predicates are multi-dimensional; 'big' involves height and volume; heaps include arrangement [Keefe/Smith]
If there is a precise borderline area, that is not a case of vagueness [Keefe/Smith]
The epistemic view of vagueness must explain why we don't know the predicate boundary [Keefe/Smith]
Vague statements lack truth value if attempts to make them precise fail [Keefe/Smith]
Some of the principles of classical logic still fail with supervaluationism [Keefe/Smith]
The semantics of supervaluation (e.g. disjunction and quantification) is not classical [Keefe/Smith]
Supervaluation misunderstands vagueness, treating it as a failure to make things precise [Keefe/Smith]
People can't be placed in a precise order according to how 'nice' they are [Keefe/Smith]
If truth-values for vagueness range from 0 to 1, there must be someone who is 'completely tall' [Keefe/Smith]
How do we decide if my coat is red to degree 0.322 or 0.321? [Keefe/Smith]
S5 collapses iterated modalities (◊□P→□P, and ◊◊P→◊P) [Keefe/Smith]
Objects such as a cloud or Mount Everest seem to have fuzzy boundaries in nature [Keefe/Smith]