Combining Texts

Ideas for 'The Evolution of Modern Metaphysics', 'The Metaphysics of Scientific Realism' and 'Possibility'

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2 ideas

10. Modality / A. Necessity / 5. Metaphysical Necessity
Metaphysical necessity holds between things in the world and things they make true [Ellis]
     Full Idea: Metaphysical necessitation is the relation that holds between things in the world and the things they make true.
     From: Brian Ellis (The Metaphysics of Scientific Realism [2009], 1)
     A reaction: Not sure about that. It implies that it is sentences that have necessity, and he confirms it by calling it 'a semantic relation'. So there are no necessities if there are no sentences? Not the Brian Ellis we know and love.
10. Modality / A. Necessity / 6. Logical Necessity
Entailment does not result from mutual necessity; mutual necessity ensures entailment [Jubien]
     Full Idea: Typically philosophers say that for P to entail Q is for the proposition that all P's are Q's to be necessary. I think this analysis is backwards, and that necessity rests on entailment, not vice versa.
     From: Michael Jubien (Possibility [2009], 4.4)
     A reaction: His example is that being a horse and being an animal are such that one entails the other. In other words, necessities arise out of property relations (which for Jubien are necessary because the properties are platonically timeless). Wrong.