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    Modal realism (Lewis) and materialism are logically indep... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→The existence of non-actual possible worlds can be supported by arguing for materialism.

    Modal realism (Lewis) and materialism are logically independent doctrines: one can be a materialist nominalist who rejects possible worlds entirely.

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    1 reason for
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    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.Materialism commits only to physical entities; modal realism adds abstract possible worlds, an ontologically distinct category.
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    • 2.Nominalists successfully defend materialism without possible worlds by treating modal claims as useful fictions or linguistic conventions.
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    • 3.Modal realism and materialism solve different problems: one addresses modality, the other addresses composition—logically separable.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Materialists need some account of possibility; modal realism provides the most rigorous one. Alternatives face serious explanatory costs.
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    • 2.Rejecting possible worlds while maintaining materialist commitments creates tensions: how do counterfactuals get truth-conditions non-metaphysically?
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    • 3.Lewis's modal realism follows naturally from taking modality seriously within a physicalist framework, making separation artificial.
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    Connections

    2 topics

    Consciousness & Mind1 linkedModality & Possibility1 linked

    Related

    Lewis's modal realism follows naturally from taking modality seriously within a ...Materialism commits only to physical entities; modal realism adds abstract possi...Materialists need some account of possibility; modal realism provides the most r...Modal realism and materialism solve different problems: one addresses modality, ...
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    Nominalists successfully defend materialism without possible worlds by treating ...Rejecting possible worlds while maintaining materialist commitments creates tens...The existence of non-actual possible worlds can be supported by arguing for mate...

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    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
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