The Many Faces of Impossibility

Possible worlds have revolutionised philosophy and some related fields. But, in recent years, tools based on possible worlds have been found to be limited in many respects. Impossible worlds have been introduced to overcome these limitations. This Element aims to raise and answer the neglected question of what is characteristically impossible about impossible worlds. The Element sheds new light on the nature of impossible worlds. It also aims to analyse the main features and utility of impossible worlds and examine how impossible worlds can capture distinctions which are unavailable if we limit ourselves to possible world-based tools. Cover Title page Imprints page The Many Faces of Impossibility Contents 1 Introduction 2 Conceptual Prolegomenon 2.1 Modality: Absolute vs. Relative 2.2 Non-normal Worlds 2.3 Entailment Statements 2.4 Logical Humean Supervenience 2.5 Non-classical Logics 3 Difference 3.1 An Analogy to Physics 3.2 Is Difference the Mark of Impossibility? 3.3 What Difference Does Difference Make? 4 Openness 4.1 Anarchy 4.2 Nihilism 4.3 Silence 4.4 Openness as Impossibility? 4.5 Anarchy as Impossibility? 4.6 Nihilism as Impossibility? 4.7 Silence as Impossibility? 5 Violation 5.1 Non-normal Worlds 5.2 How Do Violations Account for Impossibility? 6 Difference, Openness, and Violation 6.1 Difference and Openness 6.2 Difference and Violation 6.3 Openness and Violation 7 Counterpossibles and Countermetapossibles 7.1 Counterpossibles 7.2 Counterlogicals 7.3 Countermathematicals 7.4 Countermetafactuals, Countermetalogicals, and Countermetapossibles 7.5 Causal Counterfactuals 8 Representation References Acknowledgements