Article/Publication Details

O objavovaní a konštruovaní možností

(Original title: On Discovering and Construing Possibilities)
Schmidt, Martin
Filozofia, 2020, vol. 75, No 9, pp. 793 – 803.
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The aim of the paper is to argue that it is not possible to approach modalities solely on empiric grounds as the followers of Kripke and Putnam maintain. This holds even in the case of nomological possibilities that are rooted in the laws of nature. There are no laws of nature that prevent scenarios opposing reality, for instance, no law precludes the possibility of the evening star not being identical with the morning star. As the paper argues, in order to prevent these scenarios, the concept of nomological possibility must contain some pieces of a priori metaphysics. Put differently, nomic possibilities are not just discovered, nomic possibilities are also construed.

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