21 found
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  1.  81
    Worlds, Possible and Impossible (3rd edition).Martin Vacek - forthcoming - In Hilary Nesi & Petar Milin (eds.), International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. Elsevier.
    Modal phenomena in general, and modal claims in particular, present a problem for contemporary philosophers. The truth conditions of modal claims differ from those of nonemodal claims. I discuss a widely accepted strategy that posits possible and impossible worlds in order to analyze modal claims and thus systematize our intuitions about modal reality.
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  2.  59
    What Is So Bad about Plurality?Martin Vacek - 2024 - Teorema: International Journal of Philosophy 43 (2):23-38.
    In this paper, I list various kinds of ‘plurality’ in philosophical investigations. By plurality, I mean a plurality of methodological criteria which we apply to philosophical phenomena and which are very often incompatible with each other. Any philosophical phenomenon can be approached from different methodological viewpoints and result in utterly different ontological and ideological commitments. In other words, I assume that one philosophical problem can have different solutions which depend on different methodological and theoretical presuppositions. Instead of considering this feature (...)
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  3.  45
    (2 other versions)Concrete Impossible Worlds.Martin Vacek - 2013 - Filozofia 68 (6):523-530.
    The paper deals with such a modification of genuine modal realism as to accommodate impossible worlds into its ontology. First of all, the theory of modal realism is presented. Next, several motivations for the acceptance of impossible worlds are adduced. Further, Lewis’s argument against impossible worlds is presented. It is argued that the argument can be weakened by rejection of one of its premises. Finally, two objections against the proposal are countered. Although my strategy accounts for the Opinion concerning the (...)
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  4.  44
    Fiction: Impossible!Martin Vacek - 2018 - Axiomathes 28 (2):247-252.
    I argue that modal realism is unable to account for fictional discourse. My starting point is an overview of modal realism. I then present a dilemma for modal realism regarding fictional characters. Finally, I provide responses to both horns of the dilemma, one motivating modal dimensionalism, the other motivating a disjunctive analysis of modality.
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  5. Extended Modal Dimensionalism.Martin Vacek - 2017 - Acta Analytica 32 (1):13-28.
    Modal dimensionalism is realism about spaces, times and worlds—metaphysical indices that make objects spatial, temporal and modal, respectively, and that play the role of alethic relativizers, i.e. items to which matters of truth are relativized. This paper examines several arguments against MD and shows that MD offers a feasible way to understand modal discourse.
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  6.  85
    Impossible worlds.Martin Vacek - 2023 - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
    Actual facts abound and actual propositions are true because there is a world, the actual world, that the propositions correctly describe. Possibilities abound as well. The actual world reveals what there is, but it is far from clear that it also reveals what there might be. Philosophers have been aware of this limitation and have introduced the notion of a possible world. Finally, impossibilities abound because it turned out that possibilities do not exhaust the modal space as a whole. Beside (...)
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  7.  37
    Impossibilists's Paradise on the Cheap?Martin Vacek - 2013 - Organon F: Medzinárodný Časopis Pre Analytickú Filozofiu (3):283-301.
    The aim of the paper is to discuss the ersatz theory of Lewis’s impossible worlds, point out its undeniable benefits and demonstrate its costs. Firstly, I present two approaches to Lewis’s impossible worlds taken as constructions out of possibilia. Secondly, I evaluate the proposals using the Lewisian criteria of success concerning the well defined conception of analysis. Although appealing, I do not find the proposals fully persuasive. Thirdly, I discuss the objection from an ad hoc distinction between possible and impossible (...)
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  8. On the Indispensability of (Im)Possibilia.Martin Vacek - 2013 - Humana Mente 6 (25).
    According to modal realism formulated by David Lewis, there exist concrete possible worlds. As he argues the hypothesis is serviceable and that is a sufficient reason to think it is true. On the other side, Lewis does not consider the pragmatic reasons to be conclusive. He admits that the theoretical benefits of modal realism can be illusory or that the acceptance of controversial ontology for the sake of theoretical benefits might be misguided in the first place. In the first part (...)
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  9. MODAL REALISM AND PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS: THE CASE OF ISLAND UNIVERSES.Martin Vacek - 2013 - Filozofia 68 (10).
    The paper outlines and immediately discusses the so-called ‘soft’ impossibility, i.e., non-logical impossibility generated by modal realism. It will be shown that although in a particular case genuine modal realism, straightforwardly applied, deems impossible a proposition that other philosophers have claimed to be (intuitively) possible, there is a variety of methodologically acceptable moves available in order to avoid the problem. The impossibility at issue is the existence of island universes. Given the Lewisian analysis there are three points at which we (...)
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  10. Concrete Impossibilia.Martin Vacek - manuscript
    The paper deals with such a modification of genuine modal realism as to accommodate impossible worlds into its ontology. First of all, the theory of modal realism is presented. Next, several motivations for the acceptance of impossible worlds are adduced. Furthermore, Lewis’s argument against impossible worlds is denied. Then, it is argued that the same methodology as in the case of possible worlds can be used when impossibilia are at issue. Finally, the theory of extended modal realism is formulated.
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  11.  12
    Modal Realism: Yet Another Hybrid Version.Martin Vacek - 2015 - Belgrade Philosophical Annual 28 (28):3-19.
    The aim of this paper is to provide an analysis of modality by means of the existence of concrete impossible worlds. In particular, I pursue a strategy according to which logical impossibility is analyzed as logical inaccessibility. I then consider whether it makes sense to think of logical models in isolation from the concrete world but without their being divorced from all spatiotemporal totalities. The metaphysics of structure developed in this paper assumes that structural properties of possible and impossible worlds (...)
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  12.  52
    Trading Ontology for Ideology.Martin Vacek - 2020 - Acta Analytica 35 (3):405-420.
    In this paper, I defend modal dimensionalism against the objection that it is ontologically and ideologically heavy. First, I briefly outline the theory and the objection against it. The objection relies on the widely accepted view that ontological and ideological parsimony are operational criteria when comparing metaphysical theories. Second, I outline the conventional distinction between ontology and ideology in the metaphysical tradition. Third, I challenge a particular kind of parsimony: reduction by identification. Fourth, even if reduction by identification is accepted, (...)
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  13.  25
    Correction to: Trading Ontology for Ideology.Martin Vacek - 2020 - Acta Analytica 35 (4):623-624.
    The original version of this article unfortunately contains incorrect argument in section 5 and the corrected section headings.
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  14. Eugen Andreanský, Možné svety z pohľadu logickej sémantiky a analytickej filozofie.Martin Vacek - 2011 - Organon F: Medzinárodný Časopis Pre Analytickú Filozofiu 18 (4):546-555.
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  15.  3
    (Extended) Modal Realism and Philosophical Analysis.Martin Vacek - 2020 - Bratislava: VEDA.
    Theories of possible worlds abound. Since the introduction of modal logic, the term of a possible world, and the very nature of an entity denoted by the term, have stood on the top of metaphysical inquiries. A possible world, roughly speaking, is a complete way things could have been. On the face of it, whatever is possible takes place in some possible world, and whatever is not possible, does not. The aim of the present book is to argue that even (...)
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  16.  15
    Fictional Characters as Alien Individuals.Martin Vacek - 2019 - Filozofia 74 (8):663-668.
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  17.  37
    Impossibilia.Martin Vacek - 2016 - Principia: An International Journal of Epistemology 20 (1):81-97.
    The paper defends the so-called extended modal realism, a theory according to which there are concrete impossible worlds. Firstly, modal realism is presented. Next, the way of how its ontology enriched by impossible worlds should look like in order to save its main theoretical virtues is pursued. Finally, I argue for a claim that metaphysical impossibility equals to dissimilarity between worlds instantiating distinct metaphysical structures.
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  18. The Israel Philosophy Association 16th Annual Conference.Martin Vacek - 2013 - Organon F: Medzinárodný Časopis Pre Analytickú Filozofiu 20 (2):277-279.
  19. The Incredulous Stare.Martin Vacek - 2024 - Bratislava: VEDA.
    his essay is about the incredulous stare and its persistent role in the history of philosophy. This silent yet expressive gesture, often signaling disbelief or skepticism, serves as a kind of philosophical punctuation—a non-verbal response to ideas that challenge conventional thinking. From ancient dialogues to modern philosophical debates, the incredulous stare embodies the tension between accepted norms and provocative thought, prompting both parties in a philosophical debate to reassess their assumptions. The incredulous stare, while often seen as resistance to certain (...)
     
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  20. The Nature of Impossibility.Martin Vacek - 2019 - Bratislava, Slovakia: VEDA.
    Possible-worlds semantics proved itself as a strong tool in analysing the statements of actuality, possibility, contingency and necessity. But impossible phenomena go beyond the expressive power of the apparatus. The proponents of possible-worlds apparatus thus owe us at least three stories. The first one is the story about ontological nature of possible worlds, the second one is the story about the theoretical role such entities play and the third one is the story about the impossible. Modal Realism (MR) provides us (...)
     
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  21.  36
    Metaphysics: Aristotelian, Scholastic, Analytic. [REVIEW]Martin Vacek - 2013 - Organon F: Medzinárodný Časopis Pre Analytickú Filozofiu 20 (2):266-270.
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