Abstract

Recently, a number of philosophers have argued that sensory images – “mental pictures” or other sense-based images of various situations – provide the best evidence for what is possible. In this paper I identify the best argument for this conclusion, but contend that it shows that certain non-sensory representations provide good evidence for possibility as well. That is, though I endorse the claim that the sensory imagination can be a source of evidence for what is possible, I deny that it is the only source. I also sketch some consequences of this view for the thesis that sensations and perceptual experiences are identical to physical states