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Metaphysician Undercover

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Yes, I thought that's what we were talking about, Lewis' interpretation where all possible worlds are actual. Not at all, like all the terms of modal ...
December 20, 2025 at 01:44
The point, though was that all the possible worlds are actual worlds. If we say "possible" that means "may" be. But Lewis' interpretation appears to b...
December 19, 2025 at 20:02
But you said that the possible worlds are actual, so you have no use for actual, regardless of context. The world you perceive is actual, and the poss...
December 19, 2025 at 17:34
"Contingent" has varied meaning, it's quite ambiguous. I dismiss determinism, fatalism, and necessitarianism as fundamentally incompatible with our ex...
December 19, 2025 at 13:54
As I explained, it's ontological possibility, and this is very similar to "potential", but potential I consider to be the broader term than ontologica...
December 18, 2025 at 14:04
Sure, but in the situation we're talking about every possible world is actual, and there's no definition as to what actual means. So "actual" is meani...
December 18, 2025 at 01:28
There are so many different senses of "possible", and they are radically different, so I think using only one model in an attempt to understand all th...
December 17, 2025 at 14:54
Yes that's exactly the problem. What we know as the independent, physical world, source of empirical observations, can no longer be accepted as such. ...
December 17, 2025 at 03:28
Very good. But of course, rejecting one proposal does not resolve the problem of transworld identity. Nor does it make any other proposal more reasona...
December 16, 2025 at 14:16
But haecceity then cannot account for transworld identity. Transworld identity must allow that the same thing has different properties at the same tim...
December 16, 2025 at 03:56
Haecceity in itself could not account for transworld identity, because haecceity describes an individual being what it is, in all its uniqueness. Haec...
December 16, 2025 at 00:23
It seems to me, that the quote supports what I've been arguing very well. Possible worlds semantics is a piece of Platonist ontology. And, Platonist o...
December 15, 2025 at 13:25
Sorry Banno, it doesn't work that way. You have to actually hang me. I will add the following to your description of the de re/de dicto distinction. I...
December 15, 2025 at 02:15
Sets are not individuals, they are ideas. The unity required for "individual" is simply assumed by the subject, in the case of a set. That's why I cri...
December 14, 2025 at 22:59
That some statements about the actual world are objective facts doesn't mean that all are. From what I see, you've just demonstrated the subjectivity ...
December 14, 2025 at 21:53
That's a useless and baseless assertion if I've ever seen one. Thank you for your opinion nonetheless.
December 14, 2025 at 13:49
Fundamentally, I think it is a problem to try and establish identity between two distinct ideas. There is always nuanced differences which makes such ...
December 14, 2025 at 13:10
Here's a proposal for a compromise. Since you insist that names like "Frodo" which actually refer to ideas, refer to "things", and you presume the exi...
December 14, 2025 at 01:51
It's not the case that logic necessarily implies metaphysics, but using metaphysical terms like "thing" and "identity" do imply metaphysics. And if yo...
December 14, 2025 at 00:18
Yes, I see you understand the issue very well then. Every time you refer to "Nixon" or "the actual world" as if this is a representation of the real p...
December 14, 2025 at 00:13
We cannot "take the metaphysically actual world as the modally actual world" because the difference between these two is the difference you insisted t...
December 13, 2025 at 02:28
I don't really think so. Strictly speaking, there is no further "meaning" to an extensional definition, only the set of items. If we switch to a meani...
December 12, 2025 at 22:23
So here's a summary of the progress which you and I have made, in our discussion of modal logic. We both agree that there is a very clear and signific...
December 12, 2025 at 13:43
Sure, but "Nixon might not have won the election" is obviously a blatant falsity. And, if you set up a modal model, possible worlds, within which Nixo...
December 12, 2025 at 03:22
Changing the quote doesn't help you, because now the statement is about what the actual I, in the actual physical world of here and now, wants. That's...
December 11, 2025 at 23:31
Jesus Banno! Did you not take English in school? The subject of that phrase is "the one", and this refers to the "circumstances". The phrase is about ...
December 11, 2025 at 11:31
OK, so here's the warning from the SEP And as I explained, extensional definitions have the fundamental problem of being self-referential.
December 11, 2025 at 11:16
This is exactly the problem which the extensionality of "possible worlds" produces. It creates the illusion that we are talking about a bunch of diffe...
December 11, 2025 at 02:56
Is it difficult for you to understand that we're not talking about a fellow at all, we're talking about a complex concept?
December 11, 2025 at 02:43
Uh-hu, tell me another one bro. Can you tell me how I can get myself into some of these different circumstances? I want the one where I'm the same fel...
December 11, 2025 at 02:30
I don't see a definition of "knowledge" there. It says "The operative concept of 'knowability' remains elusive...". That's the problem I mentioned, wh...
December 11, 2025 at 01:00
Obviously, and I agreed. You have a very strange form of straw manning, in which you project your own errors on to someone else. You equivocate, and b...
December 11, 2025 at 00:47
Sure, you reject my definitions, as I knew you would. So, what does "know" mean to you in this context, and what does "true" mean in this context? The...
December 11, 2025 at 00:41
Yes, I think I'm more in the mood for calling out bullshit than for learning. It appears I went through weeks of discussion with you in the other thre...
December 11, 2025 at 00:35
Because that's what a predication is, to state that a subject has a specified property. Predication is not to say that it might have the property. If,...
December 10, 2025 at 22:56
@"Banno" So, are we ready to proceed, or are you back to ignoring me?
December 10, 2025 at 22:03
That's not what the SEP article says, and I've provided quotes. I suggest you reread the part on extensionality. Well, when it is a possibility, we ca...
December 10, 2025 at 18:29
Sure, but as I said, with possible worlds we are talking about different properties at the same time. That is what prevents the name from referring to...
December 10, 2025 at 13:31
We're talking about at the same time, in different possible worlds. If you start trying to describe the difference between one possible world and anot...
December 09, 2025 at 22:57
That doesn't really make sense. Since the properties of the thing named "Nixon" in this case, are different in the different possible worlds, we canno...
December 09, 2025 at 18:54
That is contrary to what the SEP article states. Modal logic is intensional. And, it is only the expression of it, the interpretation of separate "pos...
December 09, 2025 at 13:43
That's right, each time I offer terms of interpretation, you assert that they are erroneous, and you reject them. Then you provide none of your own, s...
December 09, 2025 at 13:13
My entire discussion with you in this thread is "the same argument". When finally persuaded to clarify your use, you admitted to equivocation. At some...
December 09, 2025 at 02:28
@"Banno" Now, are you ready to address the so-called Fitch's paradox, and accept that it doesn't say anything about any supposed independent, metaphys...
December 09, 2025 at 01:02
I just did that yesterday :
December 09, 2025 at 00:48
That's so wrong. You, in the very same argument use "the actual world" to refer to a model-theoretic object, and also to a metaphysical object. When a...
December 08, 2025 at 22:55
In our discussion, Banno more than once explicitly said that the actual world is the world that we live in. This is completely different from any repr...
December 08, 2025 at 22:49
It appears like we're not as close to agreement as I thought. If you continue to insist that you can use the same term to refer to different things, w...
December 08, 2025 at 12:38
When good philosophy is contrary to everyday speech, there is a really good reason for that. It indicates a fundamental problem with everyday speech. ...
December 08, 2025 at 04:25
I reject your definition as completely different from the one in the article we are supposed to be reading, which I quoted above. Taking a definition ...
December 08, 2025 at 01:22