Single Idea 14679

[catalogued under 10. Modality / A. Necessity / 5. Metaphysical Necessity]

Full Idea

Though there is a way things logically could be according to which I am a credit card account, there is no way things metaphysically might be according to which I am a credit card account. This illustrates the restricted nature of metaphysical modality.

Gist of Idea

Bizarre identities are logically but not metaphysically possible, so metaphysical modality is restricted

Source

Nathan Salmon (The Logic of What Might Have Been [1989], III)

Book Reference

Salmon,Nathan: 'Metaphysics, Mathematics and Meaning' [OUP 2005], p.136


A Reaction

His drift is that metaphyical modality is restricted, but expressing it in S5 modal logic (where all worlds see one another) makes it unrestricted, so S5 logic is wrong for metaphysics. I'm impressed by his arguments.

Related Idea

Idea 14681 Logical necessity is free of constraints, and may accommodate all of S5 logic [Salmon,N]