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Single Idea 19299

[filed under theme 10. Modality / E. Possible worlds / 1. Possible Worlds / e. Against possible worlds ]

Full Idea

The standard conception of worlds incorporates the assumption of bivalence - every proposition is either true or false. But it is infelicitous to build into one's basic semantic machinery a principle endorsing classical logic against its rivals.

Gist of Idea

Possible worlds make every proposition true or false, which endorses classical logic

Source

Bob Hale (Necessary Beings [2013], 10.3)

Book Ref

Hale,Bob: 'Necessary Beings' [OUP 2013], p.227


A Reaction

No wonder Dummett (with his intuitionist logic) immediately spurned possible worlds. This objection must be central to many recent thinkers who have begun to doubt possible worlds. I heard Kit Fine say 'always kick possible worlds where you can'.


The 23 ideas from 'Necessary Beings'

You cannot understand what exists without understanding possibility and necessity [Hale]
The big challenge for essentialist views of modality is things having necessary existence [Hale]
There is no gap between a fact that p, and it is true that p; so we only have the truth-condtions for p [Hale]
What are these worlds, that being true in all of them makes something necessary? [Hale]
Interesting supervenience must characterise the base quite differently from what supervenes on it [Hale]
It seems that we cannot show that modal facts depend on non-modal facts [Hale]
'Absolute necessity' is when there is no restriction on the things which necessitate p [Hale]
Logical necessity is something which is true, no matter what else is the case [Hale]
Maybe each type of logic has its own necessity, gradually becoming broader [Hale]
Logical and metaphysical necessities differ in their vocabulary, and their underlying entities [Hale]
Maybe conventionalism applies to meaning, but not to the truth of propositions expressed [Hale]
Absolute necessities are necessarily necessary [Hale]
A canonical defintion specifies the type of thing, and what distinguish this specimen [Hale]
Essentialism doesn't explain necessity reductively; it explains all necessities in terms of a few basic natures [Hale]
If necessity derives from essences, how do we explain the necessary existence of essences? [Hale]
Add Hume's principle to logic, to get numbers; arithmetic truths rest on the nature of the numbers [Hale]
If second-order variables range over sets, those are just objects; properties and relations aren't sets [Hale]
The two Barcan principles are easily proved in fairly basic modal logic [Hale]
Unlike axiom proofs, natural deduction proofs needn't focus on logical truths and theorems [Hale]
Possible worlds make every proposition true or false, which endorses classical logic [Hale]
The molecules may explain the water, but they are not what 'water' means [Hale]
With a negative free logic, we can dispense with the Barcan formulae [Hale]
If a chair could be made of slightly different material, that could lead to big changes [Hale]