Possible worlds / Rod Girle.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Girle, Rod, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Possibility.

Modality (Logic).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 216 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Durham : Acumen Publishing, 2003.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Ever since Saul Kripke and others developed a semantic interpretation for modal logic, 'possible worlds' has been a much debated issue in contemporary metaphysics. To propose the idea of a possible world that differs in some way from our actual world – for example a world where the grass is red or where no people exist – can help us to analyse and understand a wide range of philosophical concepts, such as counterfactuals, properties, modality, and of course, the notions of possibility and necessity. This book examines the ways in which possible worlds have been used as a framework for considering problems in logic and argument analysis. The book begins with a non-technical introduction to the basic ideas of modal logic in terms of Kripke's possible worlds and then moves on to a discussion of "possible for" and "possible that". The central chapters examine questions of meaning, epistemic possiblity, temporal logic, metaphysics, and impossiblity. Girle also investigates how the idea of a possible world can be put to use in different areas of philosophy, the problems it may raise, and the benefits that can be gained.

Contents:

Cover; Title; Copyright; Contents; Preface; 1 Introduction; 2 Possible worlds; 3 Possible worlds and quantifiers; 4 Possible worlds, individuals and identity; 5 Possibility talk; 6 The possible worlds of knowledge; 7 The possible worlds of belief; 8 Time and many possible worlds; 9 Real possibility; 10 Impossible possible worlds; 11 Unfinished story; Notes; Bibliography; Index

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 02 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on metadata supplied by the publisher and other sources.

ISBN:

1-317-48940-3

1-317-48941-1

1-315-71059-5

1-282-92146-0

9786612921469

1-84465-345-5

9781315710594

OCLC:

898771509