Description
Book SynopsisIt seems reasonable to believe that there might have existed things other than those that in fact exist, or have existed. This title develops a framework for clarifying this problem, and explores a number of actualist strategies for solving it.
Trade Review"Stalnaker does us a service by illustrating the value--indeed, the philosophical necessity--of working from a conception of the models of possible-world semantic theories that is appropriately extensive, explicit, and nuanced. But prospective readers can also expect a great deal more than that from the serious study that this fine work both requires and repays."--John Divers, Philosophical Quarterly "Mere Possibilities is a rich and subtle text that might be connected in any number of ways to the literature on possible-world semantics and its relationship to metaphysics... Stalnaker does us a service by illustrating the value--indeed, the philosophical necessity--of working from a conception of the models of possible-world semantic theories that is appropriately extensive, explicit, and nuanced. But prospective readers can also expect a great deal more than that from the serious study that this fine work both requires and repays."--John Divers, Oxford Journals
Table of ContentsPreface ix Chapter 1: On What There Isn't (But Might Have Been) 1 Chapter 2: Merely Possible Possible Worlds 22 Chapter 3: What Is Haecceitism, and Is It True? 52 Chapter 4: Disentangling Semantics from Metaphysics 89 Chapter 5: Modal Realism, Modal Rationalism, Modal Naturalism 126 Appendix A: Modeling Contingently Existing Propositions 136 Appendix B: Propositional Functions and Properties 139 Appendix C: A Model for a Mighty Language 149 Appendix D: Counterpart Semantics for the Cheap Haecceitist 154 References 157 Index 161
