Tuesdays, 8:50-10:30
Room: D-105
The
course offers an overview of this interesting but complex topic. We will first
familiarize ourselves with different types of modalities (alethic, epistemic,
and deontic) and then limit our attention to alethic modalities (metaphysical,
natural, conceptual, logical, and so forth). How are they connected, and can
they be unified? Finally, we will focus on metaphysical modality and its
source. We will critically discuss several interpretations representative of
various approaches (reductive and non-reductive, realist and anti-realist, and
so forth). Interpretations from the second half of the previous century are
usually set within the framework of possible worlds, so the fundamental
question becomes the nature of possible worlds. Recent interpretations tend to tackle
the issue of the source of metaphysical modality directly, and of special
importance here is the relationship between metaphysical necessity and essence.
Is essence reducible to necessity or is necessity grounded in essence?
- Instructor: Maja Malec