The relationship between fundamentality and modality remains criminally underexplored. In particular, there are several significant questions about fundamentality’s modal strength that remain unanswered. For example, if something is fundamental is it necessarily so? That is, could something be fundamental in one possible world and derivative in another? And how would the acceptance of contingent fundamentality square with commitments to contingentism (or, for that matter, necessitism) about the existence of the fundamentalia? Chapter 14 makes some headway towards addressing these questions. It does so by exploring the contingent fundamentality thesis, according to which it is possible that something is possibly fundamental and possibly derivative. In this way, the chapter represents a starting point for examining broader issues about the relationship between fundamentality and modality.
How Conceited Is Donne’s Metaphysical Conceit? A Possible World Perspective With Multiverse Commendation
