What are impossible worlds?

Philosophical Studies 165 (3):989-1007 (2013)
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Abstract

In this paper, I argue for a particular conception of impossible worlds. Possible worlds, as traditionally understood, can be used in the analysis of propositions, the content of belief, the truth of counterfactuals, and so on. Yet possible worlds are not capable of differentiating propositions that are necessarily equivalent, making sense of the beliefs of agents who are not ideally rational, or giving truth values to counterfactuals with necessarily false antecedents. The addition of impossible worlds addresses these issues. The kinds of impossible worlds capable of performing this task are not mysterious sui generis entities, but sets of structured propositions that are themselves constructed out of possible worlds and relations. I also respond to a worry that these impossible worlds are unable to represent claims about the shape of modal space itself

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Barak Krakauer
University of California, Santa Cruz

Citations of this work

Impossible Worlds.Francesco Berto - 2013 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2013):en ligne.
Omission impossible.Sara Bernstein - 2016 - Philosophical Studies 173 (10):2575-2589.
On counterpossibles.Jens Christian Bjerring - 2013 - Philosophical Studies 168 (2):327-353.
Abstract objects.Gideon Rosen - 2008 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Ya shouldn’ta couldn’ta wouldn’ta.Stephen Steward - 2015 - Synthese 192 (6):1909-1921.

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References found in this work

On the Plurality of Worlds.David K. Lewis - 1986 - Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell.
Counterfactuals.David K. Lewis - 1973 - Malden, Mass.: Blackwell.
Knowledge and belief.Jaakko Hintikka - 1962 - Ithaca, N.Y.,: Cornell University Press.
On the Plurality of Worlds.David Lewis - 1986 - Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 178 (3):388-390.
Attitudes de dicto and de se.David Lewis - 1979 - Philosophical Review 88 (4):513-543.

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