Re: [ontolog-forum] intangibles (was RE: Why most classifications are fu

[sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Azamat,

Indeed.  Counterfactual statements are a method of talking about possible ways that our real world could be.  That does involve some logical questions, but they can be resolved without assuming an ontology of possible worlds.

As this thread has shown, the amount of confusion caused by talk about possible worlds is enormous.  As I said before, they might be useful in the same sense as Gedanken experiments in  physics -- i.e., as ways of stimulating the imagination.

But any conclusion derivable from talk about possible worlds can be derived more simply and directly from whatever incantations were made to conjure up those worlds.

John

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