Article/Publication Details

Impossibilists’ Paradise on the Cheap?

(Original title: Impossibilists’ Paradise on the Cheap?)
Organon F, 2013, vol. 20, No 3, pp. 283-301.
Language: English
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Abstract

The aim of the paper is to discuss the ersatz theory of Lewis’s impossible worlds, point out its undeniable benefits and demonstrate its costs. Firstly, I present two approaches to Lewis’s impossible worlds taken as constructions out of possibilia. Secondly, I evaluate the proposals using the Lewisian criteria of success concerning the well defined conception of analysis. Although appealing, I do not find the proposals fully persuasive. Thirdly, I discuss the objection from an ad hoc distinction between possible and impossible worlds. I conclude that the objection does not present a special problem for the Lewisian theory. Finally, I motivate a theory of extended modal realism, to wit, modal realism enriched with concrete impossibilia.

Keywords

David Lewis, impossible worlds., modal realism

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