On What There Isn’t (But Might Have Been)

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Stalnaker
Keyword(s):  
Possible Worlds ◽  
Philosophical Analysis ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Philosophical Theory ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Contingent Existence

This chapter begins with some preliminary methodological remarks—about the aim and value of reduction in philosophical analysis, about thinking of the evaluation of philosophical theses in terms of costs and benefits, and about the contrast between realistic and anti-realistic accounts of a philosophical theory. It then discusses what possible worlds are and what the problem is about merely possible individuals. It argues that possible worlds are properties and not representations. It then takes an extended look at some examples of properties that are simpler and easier to think about than possible worlds but that share some of the features of possible worlds, construed as properties. It uses the analogy developed to motivate a metaphysically innocent account of the domains of other possible worlds. It defends a view that is committed to making sense of the contingent existence of individuals and properties, of propositions, and even of possible worlds themselves. The chapter concludes by sketching a problem that an account of this kind faces, a problem that will be addressed in Chapter 2.

La réception des notions philosophiques de trace, d’arkhé et de document dans l’œuvre d’Alain Nadaud

Labyrinth ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-105
Author(s):  
Gianluca Chiadini
Keyword(s):  
Jacques Derrida ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Philosophical Analysis ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Philosophical Theory ◽  
Philosophical Interpretation ◽  
French Writer ◽  
Contemporary Western Society

The reception of the notions of trace, arkhé, and document in the work of Alain Nadaud This paper intends to point out the philosophical features in the novels of the French writer Alain Nadaud and their links with the philosophical theory concerning the concepts of trace, arkhé and document elaborated by Jacques Derrida in the second half of the XX century. This subject, related to the contemporary socio-historical concept of post-truth, reveals the originality and the up-to-date tendency in the novels of Alain Nadaud. This paper uncovers new important aspects of his work by proposing a solid philosophical interpretation of its main theoretical principles. In particular, it uncovers the philosophical reasons at the origin of his writing, which is based on the historical research method. Furthermore, it reveals the sense of dystopia of his novels and relates it with the most recent socio-philosophical analysis of contemporary western society.

Transworld Egoism, Empathy, and the Golden Rule

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 21-31
Author(s):  
Harriet E. Baber
Keyword(s):  
Possible Worlds ◽  
Golden Rule ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Altruistic Behavior ◽  
States Of Affairs ◽  
Real Possibility ◽  
The Real ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Actual Preference

According to preferentism, the ‘desire theory’ of well-being, one is made better off to the extent that her preferences, or desires, are satisfied. According to narrow preferentism, preferentism as it has traditionally been understood, the preferences that matter in this regard are just actual preferences; preferences we might ‘easily have had’, do not matter. On this account also, only actual preference satisfaction contributes to well-being. Merely possible preference satisfaction, including the ‘real possibility’ of attaining desired states of affairs, does not contribute to well-being. Broad preferentism makes sense of the intuition that feasibility as such contributes to well-being. On this account, we are made better off not only by the actual satisfaction of our actual preferences but also by the mere feasibility of satisfying preferences that we ‘might easily have had’. In addition to making sense of our intuition that feasibility as such, contributes to our well-being, broad preferentism provides a rationale for altruistic behavior. On this account support policies that benefit worldmates whose actual circumstances are different from our own because their circumstances are the our circumstances at nearby possible worlds, and our circumstances at other possible worlds, affect our own actual well-being.

La réception des notions philosophiques de trace, d’arkhé et de document dans l’œuvre d’Alain Nadaud

Labyrinth ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Gianluca Chiadini
Keyword(s):  
Jacques Derrida ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Philosophical Analysis ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Philosophical Theory ◽  
Philosophical Interpretation ◽  
French Writer ◽  
Contemporary Western Society

The reception of the notions of trace, arkhé, and document in the work of Alain Nadaud (Abstract)This paper intends to point out the philosophical features in the novels of the French writer Alain Nadaud and their links with the philosophical theory concerning the concepts of trace, arkhé and document elaborated by Jacques Derrida in the second half of the XX century. This subject, related to the contemporary socio-historical concept of post-truth, reveals the originality and the up-to-date tendency in the novels of Alain Nadaud. This paper uncovers new important aspects of his work by proposing a solid philosophical interpretation of its main theoretical principles. In particular, it uncovers the philosophical reasons at the origin of his writing, which is based on the historical research method. Furthermore, it reveals the sense of dystopia of his novels and relates it with the most recent socio-philosophical analysis of contemporary western society.  

Human Dignity and Assisted Death

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Dignity ◽  
Terminal Illness ◽  
Assisted Suicide ◽  
Philosophical Analysis ◽  
Assisted Death ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Medical Context

Assisted death is an extremely contested topic in bioethics. Despite the strongly influential role human dignity plays in this debate, it still has not received the appropriate, multifaceted treatment it deserves. Studies show that the notion of dignity already plays an important role in medical contexts. However, its use in these contexts needs to be analyzed and explained in more detail. A detailed philosophical analysis of dignity and how it relates to assisted death will benefit both the general discussion and the specific bioethical context to which it is applied. The goal of this first in-depth examination of the application of human dignity to assisted suicide is threefold. First, it aims to enlighten and explain the widely shared intuitions about human dignity, which has a specific usage in the medical context of terminal illness, because opponents as well as supporters of assisted suicide lay claim to that notion. Second, it aims to push the debate an important step forward because arguments that are often taken for granted can be more fairly reconsidered once their relationship to dignity has been clarified. Third, by making sense of dignity even within the complex and seemingly confused context of this debate, one will have taken an important step toward a clarification of it in general, which might lead to its application in other contexts as well.

What Are Meanings, That We Might Share Them?

2019 ◽  
pp. 49-95
Author(s):  
Mark Richard
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Competence ◽  
Philosophical Analysis ◽  
Competent Speaker ◽  
The Core ◽  
Making Sense

The goal of this chapter is to sketch an account of meaning as the anchor of linguistic competence—that with which one must be in cognitive contact to qualify as a competent speaker. Meanings supervene on mutual presuppositions among speakers about how people understand one another. When someone uses a word, they can expect others to have these assumptions for making sense of the sentence in which the word is used. The core of this chapter lays out this picture of meaning, discusses how it is related to linguistic competence, and relates meaning in this sense to meaning in the sense of that which a use of a sentence conventionally says. The chapter is bookended with a discussion of philosophical analysis, because a motivation for thinking about meaning in this way is that it makes a case for the importance of something much like philosophical analysis traditionally conceived.

Models and reality*

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 709-726 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Stalnaker
Keyword(s):  
Possible Worlds ◽  
Kripke Model ◽  
Kripke Models ◽  
Model Structure ◽  
Realistic Interpretation ◽  
Modal Language ◽  
Spatial Properties ◽  
Making Sense

AbstractKripke models, interpreted realistically, have difficulty making sense of the thesis that there might have existed things that do not in fact exist, since a Kripke model in which this thesis is true requires a model structure in which there are possible worlds with domains that contain things that do not exist. This paper argues that we can use Kripke models as representational devices that allow us to give a realistic interpretation of a modal language. The method of doing this is sketched, with the help of an analogy with a Galilean relativist theory of spatial properties and relations.

A Refutation of the Lewis-Stalnaker Analysis of Counterfactuals

Metaphysica ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Arvan
Keyword(s):  
Possible Worlds ◽  
Philosophical Analysis ◽  
Truth Conditions ◽  
Counterfactual Conditionals

AbstractThe standard philosophical analysis of counterfactual conditionals – the Lewis-Stalnaker analysis – analyzes the truth-conditions of counterfactuals in terms of nearby possible worlds. This paper demonstrates that this analysis is false.

scholarly journals LOGICS FOR PROPOSITIONAL CONTINGENTISM

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETER FRITZ
Keyword(s):  
Model Theory ◽  
Possible Worlds ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Order Logic ◽  
Existential Quantifier ◽  
Philosophical Theory ◽  
Propositional Operator ◽  
Second Order Logic

AbstractRobert Stalnaker has recently advocated propositional contingentism, the claim that it is contingent what propositions there are. He has proposed a philosophical theory of contingency in what propositions there are and sketched a possible worlds model theory for it. In this paper, such models are used to interpret two propositional modal languages: one containing an existential propositional quantifier, and one containing an existential propositional operator. It is shown that the resulting logic containing an existential quantifier is not recursively axiomatizable, as it is recursively isomorphic to second-order logic, and a natural candidate axiomatization for the resulting logic containing an existential operator is shown to be incomplete.

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