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The weakest normal modal logic, named K in honor of Saul Kripke, is simply the propositional calculus augmented by □, the rule N, and the axiom K. K is weak in that it fails to determine whether a proposition can be necessary but only contingently necessary. That is, it is not a theorem of K that if □p is true then □□p is true, i.e., that necessary truths are "necessarily necessary".

So perhaps what is necessary isn't necessarily necessary.

But what about intrinsicality? If something is intrinsic, is that a fact intrinsic to what it is intrinsic to?

Lewis has in several places (1983a, 1986a, 1988) insisted that shape properties are intrinsic, but one could hold that an object's shape depends on the curvature of the space in which it is embedded, and this might not even be intrinsic to that space (Nerlich 1979)

But it is easy to imagine that shape is an intrinsic property of what has a shape. So is e.g. is it an intrinsic fact about an object that it intrinsically has its shape? And what would that mean?

I am asking because I assume that all intrinsic obligations are intrinsically rational.

Assuming that, perhaps claiming that everything intrinsically rational was intrinsically valuable, would practically make it intrinsically rational that any value is intrinsically rational.

  • And would that mean all intrinsic value is self-evident?
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    I'm getting stuck on "intrinsically rational" -- is this your construction? (in which case could you further develop that idea?) or is it present in a pre-existing stream of philosophical thought (in which case that usage should be indicated)?
    – Dave
    Sep 1, 2015 at 16:30
  • Mathematicians have in fact thought long and hard about the nature of equivalence relations and models. I wish someone would just take those notions to heart, instead of focussing on weak notions that are not used daily.
    – user9166
    Sep 1, 2015 at 16:32
  • @Dave hey sorry to be a pain... the term appears in the literature, but i don't know of any definition. i'll look
    – user6917
    Sep 1, 2015 at 16:40
  • hi i edited the question to reflect it is my own construction - just a quality that all intrinsic obligation (may) have
    – user6917
    Sep 1, 2015 at 17:07
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    @Mathematician Each modal logic is a formalized calculus. In addition, its concept of necessity can be given an interpretation as "holding in all possible worlds". Now analogously: What is your intended meaning of the terms intrinsic, valuable, rational and of intrinsically rational? For me it is not standard what the intended meanings of these terms are. Also self-evident is a problematic term.
    – Jo Wehler
    Sep 1, 2015 at 17:18

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