A world without worlds
Many contemporary philosophers believe that ascriptions of possibility and necessity involve quantification over a range of things, <i>possible worlds. </i>They think this because they hold that possible worlds bring benefits which cannot reasonably be foregone. For instance, possible worlds are supposed to be useful in analysing many concepts, in freeing us from primitive modality and in assessing modal inferences. This thesis considers the most important supposed benefits which possible worlds bring and argues that each of the putative benefits is either worthless or available to those who do not believe in possible worlds. Its arguments thus show that the standard reasons for believing in possible worlds are poor ones. The arguments also shed light on a range of important issues in the philosophy of modality, such as the status of primitive modality, and the relationship between ordinary modal reasoning and model theoretic techniques in modal logic. The thesis concludes by considering attempts to view talk about possible worlds as metaphorical or somehow fictional, thus entitling one to the benefits of possible worlds without commitment to them. Such views threaten to render redundant this thesis's piecemeal
Gregory, D. I.
A world without worlds. Many contemporary philosophers believe that ascriptions of possibility and necessity involve quantification over a range of things, <i>possible worlds. </i>They think this because they hold that possible worlds bring benefits which cannot reasonably be foregone. For instance, possible worlds are supposed to be useful in analysing many concepts, in freeing us from primitive modality and in assessing modal inferences. This thesis considers the most important supposed benefits which possible worlds bring and argues that each of the putative benefits is either worthless or available to those who do not believe in possible worlds. Its arguments thus show that the standard reasons for believing in possible worlds are poor ones. The arguments also shed light on a range of important issues in the philosophy of modality, such as the status of primitive modality, and the relationship between ordinary modal reasoning and model theoretic techniques in modal logic. The thesis concludes by considering attempts to view talk about possible worlds as metaphorical or somehow fictional, thus entitling one to the benefits of possible worlds without commitment to them. Such views threaten to render redundant this thesis's piecemeal
world without world many_contemporary philosopher believe ascription possibility necessity involve quantification range thing possible_world think hold possible_world bring benefit reasonably forego instance possible_world suppose useful analyse many concept free primitive modality assess modal inference considers important suppose benefit possible_world bring argues putative benefit either available believe possible_world argument thus show standard reason_believe possible_world poor argument also_shed light range important_issue philosophy modality status primitive modality relationship ordinary modal reason model theoretic technique modal logic concludes consider attempt view talk possible_world metaphorical somehow fictional thus entitle benefit possible_world without commitment them view threaten render redundant piecemeal