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Ideas for 'reports', 'De Corpore (Elements, First Section)' and 'The Semantic Conception of Truth'

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10. Modality / D. Knowledge of Modality / 4. Conceivable as Possible / b. Conceivable but impossible

16582	We can imagine a point swelling and contracting - but not how this could be done [Hobbes]
	Full Idea: Even if we can feign in our mind that a point swells to a huge bulk and then contracts to a point - imagining something's made from nothing (ex nihilo), and nothing's made from something - still we cannot comprehend how this could be done in nature.
	From: Thomas Hobbes (De Corpore (Elements, First Section) [1655], 2.08.20)
	A reaction: [compressed] Pasnau notes that this offers two sorts of conceivability, of something happening, and of a reason for it happening. A really nice idea, significant (I think) for scientific essentialists, who say possibilities are fewer than you think.