The possible worlds make good examples of ontological intangibles.
The notion of possible worlds is as old as ontology itself, remember the
potentiality-actuality dichotomy (as force and energy). It's two narrow to
connect it to the modern thinkers, like Lewis or Kripke, who were mostly
involved with the logical interpretations of possibility, necessity and
contingency, defining the modal status of propositions in terms possible or
actual worlds; like if the proposition is true or false, necessary or
contingent, possible or impossible.
The ontological status, the nature of possible worlds, this is what mostly
citical here, as the grand issue: if we live in "the worst of all possible
worlds" or in "the best of all possible worlds".
Besides, we need to distinguish the possible worlds as conceivable,
imaginable, mental or fictional universes FROM the worlds capable of
exisisting or happening, where the actual world is just one of the many
possible worlds.
When somebody states that all the possible world are as real as the actual
world, he is reasoning on the ontology of possibility. As much as when
somebody states that all that exists is made of multiverses, each with
specific physical constraints, as multiple possible universes, parallel
universes, "alternative universes", "quantum universes", "interpenetrating
dimensions", "parallel dimensions", "parallel worlds", "alternative
realities", "alternative timelines", "dimensional planes," and what not.
To my mind, alternative realities are as real as alternative energy, and we
are capable to create it as a smart sustainable world:
http://www.eis.com.cy. All what we need - to discover the ontological
mechanisms of possible worlds :-) (01)
Azamat Abdoullaev (02)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Christopher Menzel" <cmenzel@xxxxxxxx>
To: "[ontolog-forum] " <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 12:05 AM
Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] intangibles (was RE: Why mostclassifications
are fuzzy) (03)
On Jul 19, 2011, at 3:17 AM, sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Dear Matthew,
>
> The point I'm trying to make is that possible worlds don't exist. They
> are imaginary. (04)
That is a perfectly reasonable philosophical opinion, but it is not an
argument. Realists about possible worlds argue that they most certainly do
exist. They might be wrong, but you can't refute them just by asserting
that they are. (05)
> The way you imagine them is to create some hypothesis, theory, axioms, or
> specifications that generate them. (06)
Isn't that true of most any theoretical entity? Quarks? Strings? Sets? (07)
> In short, the starting hypothesis is intensional. (08)
Not for possible worlds understood á la Lewis. (09)
> The possible worlds are useless baggage. They might give you some
> pleasure in your imagination. They might even be useful as illustrations. (010)
Your reasoning is much too facile. Lewis has provided very powerful
theoretical arguments for realism about possible worlds (as he understands
them). In a nutshell, he shows (very cleverly) how a variety of
philosophical and semantical problems can be solved in terms of possible
worlds. He then argues that belief in worlds is justified so long as there
is a theory that has similar explanatory value without the ontological cost.
It's a very difficult argument to refute. (011)
> But the method of forming the initial specification for the worlds is
> intensional. (012)
Not on Lewis's approach. (013)
-chris (014)
_________________________________________________________________
Message Archives: http://ontolog.cim3.net/forum/ontolog-forum/
Config Subscr: http://ontolog.cim3.net/mailman/listinfo/ontolog-forum/
Unsubscribe: mailto:ontolog-forum-leave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Shared Files: http://ontolog.cim3.net/file/
Community Wiki: http://ontolog.cim3.net/wiki/
To join: http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?WikiHomePage#nid1J (015)
_________________________________________________________________
Message Archives: http://ontolog.cim3.net/forum/ontolog-forum/
Config Subscr: http://ontolog.cim3.net/mailman/listinfo/ontolog-forum/
Unsubscribe: mailto:ontolog-forum-leave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Shared Files: http://ontolog.cim3.net/file/
Community Wiki: http://ontolog.cim3.net/wiki/
To join: http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?WikiHomePage#nid1J (016)
|