Questions tagged [necessity]
The necessity tag has no usage guidance.
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Can everything in the universe be metaphysically necessary without determinism?
Can every single event in the universe, be metaphysically necessary? In other words, could it be that the whole notion of possibility is wrong and that there is only one possible world?
One might ...
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Is the universe necessary?
The Contingency Argument of Leibniz states that if the universe has an explanation of its existence, that explanation is God. This introduces metaphysics. But could the fundamental fabric of spacetime ...
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What is the difference between something happening for no reason and something being necessary?
Suppose I ask you why there is something rather than nothing. And by something, I mean causal reality in reference to tangible objects and not just abstract objects.
I recently saw a discussion where ...
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Are there limits to what can be proposed as metaphysical necessity?
I have read in philosophical literature that in the old days, many philosophers used to equate necessity with always existing. Nowadays, it seems that something eternal can be seen as contingent (I.e. ...
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Does Necessity Mandate Uniqueness?
Suppose there is a nonzero number of contingent entities and a nonzero number of necessary entities. For example, the law of non-contradiction is probably a plausible candidate for something that ...
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Arguments against Necessitarianism
I would like to know what the most successful arguments have been against necessitarianism, as I struggle to imagine how necessitarianism could be false.
I think about how any particular event ...
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A question on quantified modal logic
I originally posted this on math.stackexchange.com, but I’m cross-posting it since I know there are good modal logicians on here too.
Also, I already asked a similar question here: Identity in ...
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Can an event that has a beginning be metaphysically necessary?
Suppose an extremely complex event occurs that is meaningful but extremely improbable under current physical laws.
Suppose then, that a theist says, “God explains this better for otherwise it is very ...
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Explaining the existence vs. explaining the nonexistence of necessary beings
I understand that I am waiving issues like the absolute/relative simplicity/complexity distinction, the difference between the logic of existence and the logic of nonexistence per se, etc., so I ...
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The set-or-class of things that don't exist
If it could be determinate, how many things don't exist, i.e. if there could be a set of nonexistent things, would the existence of other things follow "mechanically"?
If it's not ...
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Is the existence of morality compatible with necessitarianism?
This is somewhat related to my previous question, here: Is the nature of morality counterfactual?. If morality is counterfactual, what would a necessitarian point of view imply about it? Since ...
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Is determinism equivalent to necessitarianism? If not, does one imply the other?
I am having a hard time understanding the difference between determinism and necessitarianism. What is the difference between them? Are they equivalent, or is one strictly stronger than the other, or ...
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Arguments for and against necessetarianism
I would like to read some texts that argue for/against necessitarianism, meaning, the belief that the world can't be otherwise. I am one such person who believes that, and I would like to hear of the ...
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How to rescue modal scientific definitions from necessitarianism?
Many definitions in the sciences are modal, meaning, they deal with possibility. Let me give some examples. In physics, there is the definition of energy as the ability to do work. In chemistry, there ...
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Metaphysical indeterminacy and necessity
This is similar to my last question, but now I am asking about a specific/different interpretation of vagueness.
To fit metaphysical indeterminacy into this picture Barnes and
Williams [claim]... the ...
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Why shouldn’t I be a skeptic about the Necessitation Rule for alethic modal logics?
Alethic modal logics for metaphysical possibility and necessity usually have the Necessitation Rule:
From ⊢P, infer ⊢□P.
Doesn’t this commit us to the meta-notion that logical necessity modulo some ...
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If a then it cannot fail to be the case that b
I am studying logic in my free time from the book Logic: A very short introduction by Grahan Priest and I am currently encountering difficulties in chapter 6 about Necessity and possibility.
In this ...
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Would my argument of knowledge being a social construct be a resolution to The Problem of the Criterion?
Questions from https://iep.utm.edu/problem-of-the-criterion/:
What do we know?
How are we to decide in any particular case whether we have knowledge?
I’ve been reading into The Problem of the ...
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"I vow that this sentence 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 be true," vs., "I vow that this sentence 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 be true"
To try to "explain" why the liar sentence is "logically dangerous" whereas the Gödel sentence is "logically helpful," I tried out contrasting the differing "effect&...
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Is every feature of the universe logically necessary?
Is every feature of the universe logically necessary? For example, it would be logically necessary that no material object can exceed the speed of light. In other words, there is only one way for the ...
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Is an equal outcome necessary to differentiate between equity and equality?
Based on the answer provided here, it seems to me that when the word "equity" is used in relation to "equality," an equal outcome is necessary in order to differentiate between ...
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Having trouble understanding "not possible without" vs. "necessary for"
At face value for me these don't mean the same thing but I'm struggling to find if they are separate concepts. Are there examples where they differ? Are they or aren't they separate ideas? I can't ...
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Are the truths of arithmetic logically necessary? [duplicate]
Are true statements of arithmetic logically necessary? That is, is "2+3=5", the commutativity of addition of natural numbers, and the infinitude of primes, among other statements, logically ...
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If something is necessarily true, is it probably true?
Suppose I were to say "2+2=4 is probably true". Would that be incorrect, since it is necessarily true? I believe "probably true" means "there is a greater than 50% chance it ...
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Does the Principle of Sufficient Reason imply everything is necessary?
Leibniz's Principle of Sufficient Reason (PSR) states that: for every fact F, there must be a sufficient reason why F is the case (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/sufficient-reason/#WhatSuffReas). ...
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Can empiricists and materialists accept metaphysical modality?
There are some propositions such as 1+1=2 that seem to be true in all possible worlds. That is, there is no possible world in which 1+1=2 is not true. Propositions like this that seem to be true in ...
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The 'Strongest Argument for Veganism': Speciesism, ethics and necessity
The Effective Altruism Foundation provides the following as the 'Strongest Argument for Veganism'.
(1) We shouldn’t be cruel to animals, i.e. we shouldn’t harm animals unnecessarily.
(2) The ...
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An argument against Hume's idea of necessary connection
In section 7 of the Enquiry Hume talks about necessary connection being an ambiguous metaphysical concept since even though we see events happening one after another (ex. hitting a billiard ball ...
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How does the cited passage of Aristotle imply that what exists sempiternally cannot age?
This article from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy indicates Aristotle's position as "what exists sempiternally cannot age. (Physics 221b30)"
The Hussey translation of the cited ...
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What is metaphysical contingency?
I have always thought is something is metaphysically contingent is simply means that something, a state of affairs, MAY be the case. Tomorrow I may stub my foot on a nail and feel pain. This ...
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Constructivism and the effects of constructing definitions on morality
My friend states that 'morality is subjective' since one can construct definitions based on arbitrary intensions and extensions of a well-defined set viz. 'My own morally not bad actions' from the ...
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What precisely are brute contingent facts?
In my philosophical discourses typically relating to cosmological arguments, I've been astounded by brute facts, and how they relate to contingency and necessity. My reflections can be adduced by a ...
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Why is 'necessity' important in causation?
Why is 'necessity' important in cause and effect? Shouldn't experience and high probability be enough? And, how does Hume define 'necessity'?
Thank you!
cctabla
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What do we mean by "if we have a proposition which is thought in conjunction with its own necessity"?
I am reading an English translation of Critique of Pure Reason by Kant and came across the statement "if we have a proposition which is thought in conjunction with its own necessity, we have an a ...
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Is existence itself necessary?
I define ‘existence’ here as the totality of being, and I take it as obvious that existence is actual. In this context, ‘necessary’ will be defined as ‘must exist because it cannot fail to exist’.
The ...
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Metaphysical vs ontological necessity
There are many forms of consequence. It seems that there should be some method of distinguishing between them. Of primary concern to philosophers are two types of consequence: physical causality and ...
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Is steam necessarily ice?
This question arose from the discussion of my recent question, [When is the first appearance of Phosphorus after March 21, 2021?][1] One of the other arguments in Kripke's 'Naming and Necessity' is ...
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When is the first appearance of Phosphorus after March 21, 2021?
Saul Kripke's argument, in his seminal 'Naming and Necessity', that Hesperus (the Evening Star) is necessarily Phosphorus (the Morning Star), has become one of the canonical examples of a posteriori ...
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Does the existence of a thing necessarily imply its logical necessity?
In formal logic, does the existence of a thing necessarily imply its logical necessity, i.e., is it possible for something to exist without being logically necessary? Can a logically unnecessary thing ...
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Does modus tollens capture the essence of "necessary condition"?
Does modus tollens capture the essence of "necessary condition"?
(1) P → Q, ¬Q, … so ¬P.
(2) So Q is a necessary condition of P.
Is (1) the inner structure of (2)?
Are any of these true:
The ...
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What is the distinction between A-intension and C-intension?
I'm having a really hard time understanding a concept discussed in “Qualia and Analytic Conditionals” by Braddon-Mitchell and "Why We Need A-Intensions" by Jackson. Here's my extraction of these ...
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How would Leibniz respond to this objection to his argument for God's existence?
Leibniz argues for the existence of a necessary being using the Principle of Sufficient Reason (PSR).
Any contingent fact about the world must have an explanation. (Principle of sufficient reason)
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Why for Spinoza is the essence of the mind eternal?
Quoted in The Oxford Handbook of Spinoza, 302.
I'm confused as to why, if we express the essence of the body under the aspect of eternity -- which for the purposes of the question I take to mean its ...
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Kant tells us that necessity is an indication of a priori concepts
It is easy enough to grasp that necessity does not inhere in nature but it is more difficult to explain. Is there a clearer explanation?
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Boethius, Logical Necessity, and Accidental Necessity: A Solution to Free Will and Foreknowledge?
In his classic book, the Consolation of Philosophy (Book V), Boethius attempts to make an argument that libertarian free will and [divine] foreknowledge are not incompatible. His argument goes ...
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Analyticity and a priority
(1) Every bachelor is unmarried.
I know this is one of the most famous examples (intensionally) denoting analytic and a priori propositions. No problems yet.
(2) Every apple is a fruit.
This one ...
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Are there examples of necessity other than logical necessity?
G. E. M. Anscombe writes the following (page 80):
...[Wittgenstein's] view, expressed at 6.37, that 'there is only logical necessity', and at 5.525, that the possibility of a state of affairs is ...
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A deontic premise that leads to a necessity from a permission
I wanted to devise some rules for myself, then formulate those rules using formal symbolic logic, and one of the rules that I have set for myself is : "Do not say what is unnecessary", in other words :...
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Are phenomenological essences experiences that occur in every possible world?
Are phenomenological essences the case in every world? I believe they are a priori, but are they necessary and immutable? A stock example of an essence is the extension of white.
We seem to ...
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Is anything not proven impossible therefore possible?
Is it a truism that, except for that which is proven impossible, everything is or must be considered possible? If so, why? It seems to me to be an argument from ignorance to say that just because we ...
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