Lewis' Reduction of Modality

Date
2011
Authors
Berkovski, S.
Advisor
Instructor
Source Title
Acta Analytica
Print ISSN
0353-5150
Electronic ISSN
Publisher
Volume
26
Issue
2
Pages
95 - 114
Language
English
Type
Article
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract

I start by reconsidering two familiar arguments against modal realism. The argument from epistemology relates to the issue whether we can infer the existence of concrete objects by a priori means. The argument from pragmatics purports to refute the analogy between the indispensability of possible worlds and the indispensability of unobserved entities in physical science and of numbers in mathematics. Then I present two novel objections. One focusses on the obscurity of the notion of isolation required by modal realism. The other stresses the arbitrary nature of the rules governing the behaviour of Lewisean universes. All four objections attack the reductive analysis of modality that is supposed to be the chief merit of modal realism.

Course
Other identifiers
Book Title
Keywords
Contingency, David Lewis, Isolation, Modal realism, Necessity, Spacetime
Citation
Published Version (Please cite this version)