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Ideas from 'On the Plurality of Worlds' by David Lewis [1986], by Theme Structure

[found in 'On the Plurality of Worlds' by Lewis,David [Blackwell 2001,0-631-22426-2]].

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1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 5. Aims of Philosophy / a. Philosophy as worldly
16281 Honesty requires philosophical theories we can commit to with our ordinary commonsense
1. Philosophy / F. Analytic Philosophy / 1. Nature of Analysis
16288 Analysis reduces primitives and makes understanding explicit (without adding new knowledge)
3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 6. Verisimilitude
9651 Verisimilitude might be explained as being close to the possible world where the truth is exact
5. Theory of Logic / G. Quantification / 6. Plural Quantification
15731 Quantification sometimes commits to 'sets', but sometimes just to pluralities (or 'classes')
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 2. Types of Existence
10470 There are only two kinds: sets, and possibilia (actual and possible particulars) [Oliver]
7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 5. Supervenience / a. Nature of supervenience
9650 Supervenience concerns whether things could differ, so it is a modal notion
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 7. Fictionalism
8909 Abstractions may well be verbal fictions, in which we ignore some features of an object
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 10. Vagueness / d. Vagueness as linguistic
9057 Vagueness is semantic indecision: we haven't settled quite what our words are meant to express
9671 Whether or not France is hexagonal depends on your standards of precision
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 1. Nature of Properties
15751 Surely 'slept in by Washington' is a property of some bed?
15735 Properties don't have degree; they are determinate, and things have varying relations to them
9656 The 'abundant' properties are just any bizarre property you fancy
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 2. Need for Properties
15737 To be a 'property' is to suit a theoretical role
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 4. Intrinsic Properties
15742 A disjunctive property can be unnatural, but intrinsic if its disjuncts are intrinsic
15397 If a global intrinsic never varies between possible duplicates, all necessary properties are intrinsic [Cameron]
15398 Global intrinsic may make necessarily coextensive properties both intrinsic or both extrinsic [Cameron]
15741 All of the natural properties are included among the intrinsic properties
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 5. Natural Properties
15752 We might try defining the natural properties by a short list of them
14996 Natural properties give similarity, joint carving, intrinsicness, specificity, homogeneity...
15743 Defining natural properties by means of laws of nature is potentially circular
15744 We can't define natural properties by resemblance, if they are used to explain resemblance
15740 I don't take 'natural' properties to be fixed by the nature of one possible world
16262 Sparse properties rest either on universals, or on tropes, or on primitive naturalness [Maudlin]
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 10. Properties as Predicates
15739 There is the property of belonging to a set, so abundant properties are as numerous as the sets
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 11. Properties as Sets
10723 A property is the set of its actual and possible instances [Oliver]
9653 It would be easiest to take a property as the set of its instances
15399 The property of being F is identical with the set of objects, in all possible worlds, which are F [Cameron]
15733 Accidentally coextensive properties come apart when we include their possible instances
15732 Properties don't seem to be sets, because different properties can have the same set
15734 If a property is relative, such as being a father or son, then set membership seems relative too
9655 Trilateral and triangular seem to be coextensive sets in all possible worlds
16290 I believe in properties, which are sets of possible individuals
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 13. Tropes / a. Nature of tropes
9657 You must accept primitive similarity to like tropes, but tropes give a good account of it
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 13. Tropes / b. Critique of tropes
15748 Trope theory needs a primitive notion for what unites some tropes
15749 Trope theory (unlike universals) needs a primitive notion of being duplicates
15750 Tropes need a similarity primitive, so they cannot be used to explain similarity
8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 1. Universals
15745 Universals recur, are multiply located, wholly present, make things overlap, and are held in common
15746 If particles were just made of universals, similar particles would be the same particle
8. Modes of Existence / D. Universals / 3. Instantiated Universals
15747 Universals aren't parts of things, because that relationship is transitive, and universals need not be
9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 8. Parts of Objects / c. Wholes from parts
9667 Mereological composition is unrestricted: any class of things has a mereological sum
13268 There are no restrictions on composition, because they would be vague, and composition can't be vague [Sider]
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 7. Essence and Necessity / a. Essence as necessary properties
13793 An essential property is one possessed by all counterparts [Elder]
9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 1. Objects over Time
9663 A thing 'perdures' if it has separate temporal parts, and 'endures' if it is wholly present at different times
9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 2. Objects that Change
14737 Properties cannot be relations to times, if there are temporary properties which are intrinsic [Sider]
9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 3. Three-Dimensionalism
9664 Endurance is the wrong account, because things change intrinsic properties like shape
9665 There are three responses to the problem that intrinsic shapes do not endure
9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 12. Origin as Essential
19280 I can ask questions which create a context in which origin ceases to be essential
9. Objects / F. Identity among Objects / 5. Self-Identity
15968 Identity is simple - absolutely everything is self-identical, and nothing is identical to another thing
9. Objects / F. Identity among Objects / 6. Identity between Objects
15969 Two things can never be identical, so there is no problem
10. Modality / D. Knowledge of Modality / 4. Conceivable as Possible / b. Conceivable but impossible
9660 The impossible can be imagined as long as it is a bit vague
10. Modality / E. Possible worlds / 1. Possible Worlds / a. Possible worlds
9669 There are no free-floating possibilia; they have mates in a world, giving them extrinsic properties
10. Modality / E. Possible worlds / 1. Possible Worlds / b. Impossible worlds
16132 On mountains or in worlds, reporting contradictions is contradictory, so no such truths can be reported
16133 Possible worlds can contain contradictions if such worlds are seen as fictions
10. Modality / E. Possible worlds / 1. Possible Worlds / c. Possible worlds realism
12255 For Lewis there is no real possibility, since all possibilities are actual [Oderberg]
9219 Lewis posits possible worlds just as Quine says that physics needs numbers and sets [Sider]
16283 For me, all worlds are equal, with each being actual relative to itself
15022 If possible worlds really exist, then they are part of actuality [Sider]
10469 A world is a maximal mereological sum of spatiotemporally interrelated things
10. Modality / E. Possible worlds / 1. Possible Worlds / d. Possible worlds actualism
16441 Lewis rejects actualism because he identifies properties with sets [Stalnaker]
16282 Ersatzers say we have one world, and abstract representations of how it might have been
10. Modality / E. Possible worlds / 2. Nature of Possible Worlds / a. Nature of possible worlds
16284 Ersatz worlds represent either through language, or by models, or magically
10. Modality / E. Possible worlds / 2. Nature of Possible Worlds / b. Worlds as fictions
16286 Linguistic possible worlds need a complete supply of unique names for each thing
16287 Maximal consistency for a world seems a modal distinction, concerning what could be true together
9662 Linguistic possible worlds have problems of inconsistencies, no indiscernibles, and vocabulary
10. Modality / E. Possible worlds / 2. Nature of Possible Worlds / c. Worlds as propositions
7690 If sets exist, then defining worlds as proposition sets implies an odd distinction between existing and actual [Jacquette]
10. Modality / E. Possible worlds / 3. Transworld Objects / c. Counterparts
14404 The counterpart relation is sortal-relative, so objects need not be a certain way [Merricks]
5441 Why should statements about what my 'counterpart' could have done interest me? [Mautner]
5440 A counterpart in a possible world is sufficiently similar, and more similar than anything else [Mautner]
16291 In counterpart theory 'Humphrey' doesn't name one being, but a mereological sum of many beings
10. Modality / E. Possible worlds / 3. Transworld Objects / d. Haecceitism
11903 Extreme haecceitists could say I might have been a poached egg, but it is too remote to consider [Mackie,P]
15129 Haecceitism implies de re differences but qualitative identity
9670 Extreme haecceitism says you might possibly be a poached egg
13. Knowledge Criteria / C. External Justification / 2. Causal Justification
16279 General causal theories of knowledge are refuted by mathematics
14. Science / C. Induction / 2. Aims of Induction
9661 Induction is just reasonable methods of inferring the unobserved from the observed
14. Science / C. Induction / 5. Paradoxes of Induction / a. Grue problem
9652 To just expect unexamined emeralds to be grue would be totally unreasonable
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / g. Causal explanations
9658 An explanation tells us how an event was caused
16280 Often explanaton seeks fundamental laws, rather than causal histories
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / l. Probabilistic explanations
16274 If the well-ordering of a pack of cards was by shuffling, the explanation would make it more surprising
18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 1. Abstract Thought
8901 Abstraction is usually explained either by example, or conflation, or abstraction, or negatively
18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 3. Abstracta by Ignoring
8904 The Way of Abstraction says an incomplete description of a concrete entity is the complete abstraction
18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 4. Abstracta by Example
8938 The Way of Example compares donkeys and numbers, but what is the difference, and what are numbers?
18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 6. Abstracta by Conflation
8903 Abstracta can be causal: sets can be causes or effects; there can be universal effects; events may be sets
8902 If abstractions are non-spatial, then both sets and universals seem to have locations
8906 If we can abstract the extrinsic relations and features of objects, abstraction isn't universals or tropes
8905 If universals or tropes are parts of things, then abstraction picks out those parts
18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 7. Abstracta by Equivalence
8908 For most sets, the concept of equivalence is too artificial to explain abstraction
8907 The abstract direction of a line is the equivalence class of it and all lines parallel to it
18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 8. Abstractionism Critique
16289 We can't account for an abstraction as 'from' something if the something doesn't exist
19. Language / A. Nature of Meaning / 7. Meaning Holism / c. Meaning by Role
16278 A particular functional role is what gives content to a thought
19. Language / D. Propositions / 2. Abstract Propositions / b. Propositions as possible worlds
9654 A proposition is a set of entire possible worlds which instantiate a particular property
15736 A proposition is the property of being a possible world where it holds true
15738 Propositions can't have syntactic structure if they are just sets of worlds
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 9. General Causation / c. Counterfactual causation
9659 Causation is when at the closest world without the cause, there is no effect either
27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 1. Nature of Time / g. Growing block
9666 It is quite implausible that the future is unreal, as that would terminate everything