Author: David Lewis
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
ISBN: 9780631224266
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 288
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Book Description
This book is a defense of modal realism; the thesis that our world is but one of a plurality of worlds, and that the individuals that inhabit our world are only a few out of all the inhabitants of all the worlds. Lewis argues that the philosophical utility of modal realism is a good reason for believing that it is true.
Author: Andrew L. Blais
Publisher: Univ of Massachusetts Press
ISBN: 9781558490727
Category : Pluralism
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Challenging the thesis that there is only one world, the author builds on Immanuel Kant's notion of metaphysical inversion to develop his idea that a world is the sum total of what exists in a particular time. In arguing that there are many representing beings, actual worlds, and truths, the author addresses ontological questions raised by Protagoras, Plato, and numerous contemporary philosophers. He concludes that there is no social and political reality independent of perspective. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Author: Alastair Wilson
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198846215
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 232
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Book Description
This book defends a radical new theory of contingency as a physical phenomenon. Drawing on the many-worlds approach to quantum theory and cutting-edge metaphysics and philosophy of science, it argues that quantum theories are best understood as telling us about the space of genuine possibilities, rather than as telling us solely about actuality. When quantum physics is taken seriously in the way first proposed by Hugh Everett III, it provides the resources for a new systematic metaphysical framework encompassing possibility, necessity, actuality, chance, counterfactuals, and a host of related modal notions. Rationalist metaphysicians argue that the metaphysics of modality is strictly prior to any scientific investigation; metaphysics establishes which worlds are possible, and physics merely checks which of these worlds is actual. Naturalistic metaphysicians respond that science may discover new possibilities and new impossibilities. This book's quantum theory of contingency takes naturalistic metaphysics one step further, allowing that science may discover what it is to be possible. As electromagnetism revealed the nature of light, as acoustics revealed the nature of sound, as statistical mechanics revealed the nature of heat, so quantum physics reveals the nature of contingency.
Author: Takashi Yagisawa
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199576890
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 327
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Book Description
Takashi Yagisawa argues for a new version of modal realism, the view that non-actual possible worlds and individuals are as real as the actual ones. He asserts that the notion of reality is primitive, existence is a relation between a thing and a domain, and ordinary objects are extended in spatial, temporal, and modal dimensions.
Author: M. de Fontenelle (Bernard Le Bovier)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Plurality of worlds
Languages : en
Pages : 178
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Book Description
Author: Michael Tooley
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 9780815333821
Category : Causation
Languages : en
Pages : 428
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Book Description
First published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Author: Francesco Berto
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198812795
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 333
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Book Description
The latter half of the 20 ...
Author: Alice Bell
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 149621305X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 440
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Book Description
The notion of possible worlds has played a decisive role in postclassical narratology by awakening interest in the nature of fictionality and in emphasizing the notion of world as a source of aesthetic experience in narrative texts. As a theory concerned with the opposition between the actual world that we belong to and possible worlds created by the imagination, possible worlds theory has made significant contributions to narratology. Possible Worlds Theory and Contemporary Narratology updates the field of possible worlds theory and postclassical narratology by developing this theoretical framework further and applying it to a range of contemporary literary narratives. This volume systematically outlines the theoretical underpinnings of the possible worlds approach, provides updated methods for analyzing fictional narrative, and profiles those methods via the analysis of a range of different texts, including contemporary fiction, digital fiction, video games, graphic novels, historical narratives, and dramatic texts. Through the variety of its contributions, including those by three originators of the subject area--Lubomír Doležel, Thomas Pavel, and Marie-Laure Ryan--Possible Worlds Theory and Contemporary Narratology demonstrates the vitality and versatility of one of the most vibrant strands of contemporary narrative theory.
Author: William Whewell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Plurality of worlds
Languages : en
Pages : 328
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Book Description
Author: Timothy Williamson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019955207X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 481
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Book Description
Timothy Williamson gives an original and provocative treatment of deep metaphysical questions about existence, contingency, and change, using the latest resources of quantified modal logic. Contrary to the widespread assumption that logic and metaphysics are disjoint, he argues that modal logic provides a structural core for metaphysics.
