PHILOS 176
Metaphysics and Epistemology of Modality
Description
Lecture, three to four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Preparation: one philosophy course. Study of metaphysics and epistemology of modality. Central topics include what possible worlds are, and if they are sets of sentences or real concrete particular universes; non-reductive possible worlds analysis of modality; plausibility of realism or anti-realism about modality; existence of one and the same individual in many possible worlds or only in one world; the relation between essence, modality, and grounding; how what is possible, necessary, or essential is known; imagination or conceivability as a guide to possibility; relation between counterfactual and modal reasoning. P/NP or letter grading.
Click on any course to view its details