Philosophy Dictionary of Arguments

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Possible World: entity that can be quantified over. There ist a dispute over the question whether possible worlds exist or are only assumed for purposes of proofs of completeness. See also actual world, modal logic, modal realism, realism, actualism, possibility, possibilia, quantification.
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Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments.

 
Author Concept Summary/Quotes Sources

Peter van Inwagen on Possible Worlds - Dictionary of Arguments

Schwarz I 41
Def Possible Worlds/Lewis: early definition: possible worlds are ways how things could be.
Van InwagenVs: these are rather properties than concrete universes (StalnakerVsLewis, RichardsVsLewis: ditto).
Lewis: later: worlds correspond to ways how things could be.
Schwarz: but we do not necessarily have to create special entities for it. They could also be grammatical illusions. Even if one considers possible worlds as entities, one does not determine for a long time what kind of entities they are.
>Modal realism/Inwagen.


Literature:
Peter van Inwagen [1985]: “Plantinga on Trans-World Identity”. In James Tomberlin und Peter van Inwagen (ed.), Alvin Plantinga: A Profile, Dordrecht: Reidel.
Peter van Inwagen [1986]: “Two Concepts of Possible Worlds”. Midwest Studies in Philosophy, 9. In [van Inwagen 2001].
Tom Richards [1975]: “The Worlds of David Lewis”, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 53: 105–118.
Robert C. Stalnaker [1976]: “Possible Worlds”. Noˆus, 10: 65–75.


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Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments
The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition.

Inwagen I
Peter van Inwagen
Metaphysics Fourth Edition

Schw I
W. Schwarz
David Lewis Bielefeld 2005


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Ed. Martin Schulz, access date 2024-04-28
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