Two Kinds of Logical Impossibility

Noûs 54 (4):795-806 (2020)
  Copy   BIBTEX

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.

Other Versions

No versions found

Similar books and articles

Mundos imposibles.José Hierro Pescador - 1985 - Theoria: Revista de Teoría, Historia y Fundamentos de la Ciencia 1 (1):143-157.
Between the Actual and the Trivial World.Maciej Sendłak - 2016 - Organon F: Medzinárodný Časopis Pre Analytickú Filozofiu 23 (2):162-176.
Systems of modal logic for impossible worlds.Charles G. Morgan - 1973 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 16 (1-4):280 – 289.
Non-Ideal Epistemic Spaces.Jens Christian Bjerring - 2010 - Dissertation, Australian National University

Analytics

Added to PP
2019-03-01

Downloads
1,728 (#6,768)

6 months
286 (#9,129)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author Profiles

Alexander Sandgren
Australian National University (PhD)
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.

View all 13 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Logical Pluralism.Jc Beall & Greg Restall - 2005 - Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. Edited by Greg Restall.
A New Introduction to Modal Logic.M. J. Cresswell & G. E. Hughes - 1996 - New York: Routledge. Edited by M. J. Cresswell.
Impossible Worlds: A Modest Approach.Daniel Nolan - 1997 - Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 38 (4):535-572.
Logical pluralism.Jc Beall & Greg Restall - 2000 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 78 (4):475 – 493.
Semantical Analysis of Modal Logic I. Normal Propositional Calculi.Saul A. Kripke - 1963 - Zeitschrift fur mathematische Logik und Grundlagen der Mathematik 9 (5‐6):67-96.

View all 21 references / Add more references