Two Kinds of Logical Impossibility

Noûs 54 (4):795-806 (2020)
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Abstract

In this paper, we argue that a distinction ought to be drawn between two ways in which a given world might be logically impossible. First, a world w might be impossible because the laws that hold at w are different from those that hold at some other world (say the actual world). Second, a world w might be impossible because the laws of logic that hold in some world (say the actual world) are violated at w. We develop a novel way of modelling logical possibility that makes room for both kinds of logical impossibility. Doing so has interesting implications for the relationship between logical possibility and other kinds of possibility (for example, metaphysical possibility) and implications for the necessity or contingency of the laws of logic.

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Author Profiles

Alexander Sandgren
Australian National University
Koji Tanaka
Australian National University

Citations of this work

Impossible Worlds.Francesco Berto - 2013 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2013):en ligne.
Counterlogicals as Counterconventionals.Alexander W. Kocurek & Ethan J. Jerzak - 2021 - Journal of Philosophical Logic 50 (4):673-704.
Counterpossibles.Alexander W. Kocurek - 2021 - Philosophy Compass 16 (11):e12787.
Logic talk.Alexander W. Kocurek - 2021 - Synthese 199 (5-6):13661-13688.
Calculus and counterpossibles in science.Brian McLoone - 2020 - Synthese 198 (12):12153-12174.

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