The Bounds of Possibility: Puzzles of Modal VariationIn general, a given object could have been different in certain respects. For example, the Great Pyramid could have been somewhat shorter or taller; the Mona Lisa could have had a somewhat different pattern of colours; an ordinary table could have been made of a somewhat different quantity of wood. But there seem to be limits. It would be odd to suppose that the Great Pyramid could have been thimble-sized; that the Mona Lisa could have had the pattern of colours that actually characterizes The Scream; or that the table could have been made of the very quantity of wood that in fact made some other table. However, there are puzzling arguments that purport to show that so long as an object is capable of being somewhat different in some respect, it is capable of being radically different in that respect. These arguments rely on two tempting thoughts: first, that an object's capacity for moderate variation is a non-contingent matter, and second, that what is possibly possible is simply possible. The Bounds of Possibility systematically investigates competing strategies for resolving these puzzles, and defends one of them. Along the way it engages with foundational questions about the metaphysics of modality. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Logical Tools | 14 |
Tolerance Puzzles | 53 |
Motivating NonContingency | 79 |
Coincidence Puzzles | 100 |
Accepting Hypertolerance | 122 |
Hypertolerance and Supervenience | 146 |
Rejecting Iteration | 171 |
Refinements and Choice Points | 291 |
Alternatives and Challenges | 307 |
Indiscernible Tolerance Arguments | 327 |
NonQualitativeness and Aboutness | 361 |
Modal Logics with and without Necessitation | 385 |
Rigidity and Ancestral Iteration | 390 |
Consequences of the Rigidity Axioms | 395 |
Narrower Modalities in HigherOrder S4 | 400 |
Iteration for Metaphysical Necessity | 199 |
Tolerance and Chance | 227 |
Tolerance and Counterpart Theory | 246 |
Resolving the Puzzles Plasticity and Plenitude | 262 |
Other editions - View all
The Bounds of Possibility: Puzzles of Modal Variation Cian Dorr,John Hawthorne,Juhani Yli-Vakkuri Limited preview - 2021 |
The Bounds of Possibility: Puzzles of Modal Variation Cian Dorr,John Hawthorne,Juhani Yli-Vakkuri No preview available - 2024 |
Common terms and phrases
accept according actual actual world ancestrally appeal atoms axiom bucket chance Chapter claim close Coincidence collection combined conditional consider containing counterpart definition denying discussed distinct earring equivalent example expressed fact false follows given gives higher-order hold Hypertolerance idea identical implies Indiscernible indiscernibly instances instantiated interesting interpretation involving Iteration judgements kind language least located logic matter means metaphysical metaphysical necessity Microphysical Supervenience modal motivation names natural necessarily necessary necessitation necessity Non-contingency objects ordinary originally originally composed Overlap particular Persistent plasticity plausible play plenitude positive possible possible worlds premises principle properties proposition qualitative quantifiers question reason refer regards reject relation relevant require respect result rigid Robustness role rule seems sense sentences ship similar sufficiently suggests suppose theorem theory things thought Tolerance Arguments Tolerance Puzzles true truth turn universe Weak Woody