Possible Worlds as Propositions.

Realists about possible worlds typically identify possible worlds with abstract objects, such as propositions or properties. However, they face a significant objection due to Lewis (1986), to the effect that there is no way to explain how possible worlds-as-abstract objects represent possibilities....

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Publicado en:Philosophical Quarterly Vol. 75; no. 1; pp. 21 - 40
Autor principal: Deasy, Daniel
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Oxford University Press / USA Jan2025
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        atl: Possible Worlds as Propositions.
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        affil: University College Dublin, Ireland
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        Proposition (Logic)
        Lewis, David K. (David Kellogg), 1941-2001
        Realism
        Metaphysics
        Abstract thought
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          Proposition (Logic)
          Lewis, David K. (David Kellogg), 1941-2001
          Realism
          Metaphysics
          Abstract thought
      keyword:
        higher-order metaphysics
        metaphysics
        modal realism
        modality
        possible worlds
        propositions
      ab: Realists about possible worlds typically identify possible worlds with abstract objects, such as propositions or properties. However, they face a significant objection due to Lewis (1986), to the effect that there is no way to explain how possible worlds-as-abstract objects represent possibilities. In this paper, I describe a response to this objection on behalf of realists. The response is to identify possible worlds with propositions, but to deny that propositions are abstract objects, or indeed objects at all. Instead, I argue that realists should follow Prior (1971) and others in treating higher-order quantification (e.g. quantification into predicate or sentence position) as a genuine form of quantification in its own right, and so in particular, not to be analysed in terms of first-order quantification over abstract objects. I argue that from this 'higher-orderist' perspective, there is a relatively straightforward answer to the question of how possible worlds-as-propositions succeed in representing possibilities.
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