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    Made withinDC&Austin
    An objection to the existence of non-actual possible worl... — Carmelics
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    Perspectives
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    Home/Modality & Possibility
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    An objection to the existence of non-actual possible worlds does not cast doubt on materialism.

    Consciousness & MindModality & Possibility
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    2 reasons for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Materialism is a thesis about the actual world: that everything that actually exists is physical or functionally reducible to the physical.
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    • 2.Non-actual possible worlds, in Lewis's modal realism, are spatiotemporally isolated from the actual world and thus outside the scope of materialist ontological commitment.
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    • 3.A thesis whose subject matter is the actual world cannot be falsified by claims about entities stipulated to be causally and spatiotemporally disconnected from it.
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    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Quine's criterion of ontological commitment ties a theory's commitments to the existential quantifiers in its canonical paraphrase, not to modal idioms.
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    • 2.The materialist can adopt a deflationary or ersatz modal semantics (as Stalnaker and Armstrong do) that eliminates commitment to concrete non-actual worlds entirely.
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    • 3.If materialism can be fully stated without quantifying over non-actual possible worlds, objections to those worlds carry no logical force against the materialist thesis.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Materialism and the existence of non-actual possible worlds are not substantively connected.
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    • 2.If two claims are not substantively connected, then evidence against one does not constitute evidence against the other.
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    Topics

    Modality & PossibilityConsciousness & Mind

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    Related

    A thesis whose subject matter is the actual world cannot be falsified by claims ...If materialism can be fully stated without quantifying over non-actual possible ...If two claims are not substantively connected, then evidence against one does no...Materialism and the existence of non-actual possible worlds are not substantivel...
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    Materialism is a thesis about the actual world: that everything that actually ex...Non-actual possible worlds, in Lewis's modal realism, are spatiotemporally isola...Quine's criterion of ontological commitment ties a theory's commitments to the e...The materialist can adopt a deflationary or ersatz modal semantics (as Stalnaker...

    Similar

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    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: ontological-commitment
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    Suppose, for the sake of argument, that non-actual possible worlds necessarily exist. Then the second premises, B2 and C2, are both true on the modal entailment account. Moreover, on the modal entailment account, both of these arguments are necessarily truth preserving. It seems to follow that the conclusion that non-actual possible worlds exist can be supported either by arguing for B1, that modal realism is true, or by arguing for C1, that materialism is true. But, surely, an argument for mate
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (2 for, 1 against)
    Edits
    1 edit