ISBN : 9780199565818
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.
Introduction
PART I: METAPHYSICS AND LOGIC
1. Merely Possible Propositions
Response to Robert Stalnaker
2. Logical Necessity
3. Semantic Necessity
4. Modal Logic within Counterfactual Logic
5. Is Timothy Williamson a Necessary Existent?
6. Metaphysical Dependence: Grounding and Reduction
7. On the Source of Necessity
8. The Reality of Modality
9. IBE, GMR, and Metaphysical Projects
10. Modal Commitments
Response to John Divers
PART II: EPISTEMOLOGY
11. Permission and (So-Called Epistemic) Possibility
Response to Stephen Yablo
12. Possible Worlds and the Necessary A Posteriori
Response to Frank Jackson
13. Apriorism about Modality
Response to Scott Sturgeon
14. Conceivability and Apparent Possibility
Response to Dominic Gregory
Bibliography
Index