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    Imagination is not a safe indication of real possibility,... — Carmelics
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
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    42
    Home/Skepticism
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    Imagination is not a safe indication of real possibility, even when such possibility is not eliminable a priori.

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

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.We can imagine that a posteriori necessities might be false (e.g., that Hesperus might not be identical to Phosphorus).
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    • 2.If Kripke is correct, such imagined scenarios are not real possibilities.
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    • 3.Many epistemic possibilities are imaginable precisely because they are epistemic possibilities, not because they are real possibilities.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Conceivability that survives all a priori and a posteriori scrutiny constitutes prima facie evidence of metaphysical possibility (Chalmers, 2002).
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    • 2.The Kripkean cases involve imaginings that dissolve under empirical pressure, whereas some conceivings—such as phenomenal zombies—resist all such debunking explanations.
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    • 3.A blanket inference from 'imagination can mislead' to 'imagination is unsafe' commits the fallacy of accident by treating defeasible evidence as no evidence.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Modal rationalism holds that ideal rational reflection on a concept's primary intension reliably tracks whether it is coherently instantiable (Jackson, 1998).
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    • 2.The Hesperus/Phosphorus cases reveal failures of non-ideal conceiving, not failures of the conceivability-possibility link itself under idealized conditions.
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    Topics

    SkepticismModality & Possibility

    Connections

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    Philosophy of Language2 linked

    Related

    A blanket inference from 'imagination can mislead' to 'imagination is unsafe' co...Conceivability that survives all a priori and a posteriori scrutiny constitutes ...If Kripke is correct, such imagined scenarios are not real possibilities.Many epistemic possibilities are imaginable precisely because they are epistemic...
    +4 moreShow less
    Modal rationalism holds that ideal rational reflection on a concept's primary in...The Hesperus/Phosphorus cases reveal failures of non-ideal conceiving, not failu...The Kripkean cases involve imaginings that dissolve under empirical pressure, wh...We can imagine that a posteriori necessities might be false (e.g., that Hesperus...

    Similar

    Blockhead is not a nomic or physical possibility, even if Blockhead is...83%Imaginability is not a reliable test for possibility83%Nothing is possible which neither is nor will be true81%Blockhead is a logical possibility81%

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    A major rationale of those who think that imagination is not a safe indication of possibility, even when such possibility is not eliminable a priori, is that we can imagine that a posteriori necessities might be false – for example, that Hesperus might not be identical to Phosphorus. But if Kripke is correct, that is not a real possibility. Another way of putting this point is that there are many epistemic possibilities which are imaginable because they are epistemic possibilities, but which are
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    Details

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