Concrete possible worlds and counterfactual conditionals : Lewis vs. Williamson on modal knowledge

Document Type

Journal article

Source Publication

Synthese

Publication Date

10-1-2010

Volume

176

Issue

3

First Page

345

Last Page

359

Publisher

Springer Netherlands

Keywords

Modal epistemology, Counterfactual thinking, Possible worlds, Modality

Abstract

The epistemology of modality is gradually coming to play a central role in general discussions about modality. This paper is a contribution in this direction, in particular I draw a comparison between Lewis’s Modal realism and Timothy Williamson’s recent account of modality in terms of counterfactual thinking. In order to have criteria of evaluation, I also formulate four requirements which are supposed to be met by any theory of modality to be epistemologically adequate.

DOI

10.1007/s11229-009-9571-3

Print ISSN

00397857

E-ISSN

15730964

Publisher Statement

Copyright © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.

Full-text Version

Publisher’s Version

Language

English

Recommended Citation

Sauchelli, A. (2010). Concrete possible worlds and counterfactual conditionals: Lewis vs. Williamson on modal knowledge. Synthese, 176(3), 345-359. doi: 10.1007/s11229-009-9571-3

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