Philosophy & What Matters. Ep. 18: The Philosophy of Possible Worlds with Daniel Nolan (Notre Dame)
Channel: Jeremiah Joven Joaquin
Date: 2020-11-02

"Philosophy & What Matters" deals with questions that matter to us from a philosophical point of view.

According to the standard possible worlds analysis of modal sentences, the sentence ‘Possibly, donkeys talk’ is true if there is at least one possible world where donkeys do talk. On the other hand, the sentence, ‘Necessarily, 2 + 2 = 4’ is true if 2 + 2 = 4 holds in all possible worlds. 

The possible worlds semantics relies on the existence of the domain of possible worlds, but what are these possible worlds? Are they the same as our actual world? And how do we know them?

To guide us through the philosophy of possible worlds and why it matters, we have Daniel Nolan, McMahon-Hank Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, and the author of Topics in the Philosophy of Possible Worlds.

The "Philosophy & What Matters" website can be found here: https://sites.google.com/site/jeremiahjovenjoaquin/philosophy-what-matters.