Synopses & Reviews
The philosophy of modality investigates necessity and possibility, and related notions--are they objective features of mind-independent reality? If so, are they irreducible, or can modal facts be explained in other terms? This volume presents new work on modality by established leaders in the field and by up-and-coming philosophers. Between them, the papers address fundamental questions concerning realism and anti-realism about modality, the nature and basis of facts about what is possible and what is necessary, the nature of modal knowledge, modal logic and its relations to necessary existence and to counterfactual reasoning. The general introduction locates the individual contributions in the wider context of the contemporary discussion of the metaphysics and epistemology of modality.
About the Author
Bob Hale is Professor of Philosophy at Sheffield University. He has been a British Academy Research Reader (1997-99), and a Leverhulme Senior Research Fellow (2009-11). He previously taught at the University of Glasgow, the University of St. Andrews, and Lancaster University. He works mainly on the philosophy of mathematics and philosophical logic.
Aviv Hoffmann is Lecturer in Philosophy at the Open University of Israel.
Table of Contents
Introduction,
Bob Hale and Aviv HoffmannPart I: METAPHYSICS and LOGIC
1. Merely Possible Propositions, Robert Stalnaker
Response to Robert Stalnaker, Aviv Hoffmann
2. Logical Necessity, Ian Rumfitt
3. Semantic Necessity, Kit Fine
4. Modal Logic within Counterfactual Logic, Timothy Williamson
5. Is Timothy Williamson a Necessary Existent?, David Efird
6. Metaphysical Dependence: Grounding and Reduction, Gideon Rosen
7. On the Source of Necessity, Ross Cameron
8. The Reality of Modality, Anna Sherratt
9. IBE, GMR, and Metaphysical Projects, Scott Shalkowksi
10. Modal Commitments, John Divers
Response to John Divers, Daniel Nolan
Part II: EPISTEMOLOGY
11. Permission and (So-Called Epistemic) Possibility, Stephen Yablo
Response to Stephen Yablo, David Efird
12. Possible Worlds and the Necessary A Posteriori, Frank Jackson
Response to Frank Jackson, Penelope Mackie
13. Apriorism about Modality, Scott Sturgeon
Response to Scott Sturgeon, C.S. Jenkins
14. Conceivability and Apparent Possibility, Dominic Gregory
Response to Dominic Gregory, Ross Cameron
Bibliography
Index