Possible Worlds Question

[luvluv]

Who was the originator of this concept? Is there any book that deals primarily with the origins of this philsophical tool and it's applications?

[NearNihil Experience]

Not too sure whwere it started...probably somewhere in late-modern continental philosophy...now it is definatley in the realms of metaphysics and epistemology.

Try Alvin Plantagina(sp), he's the champ on possible worlds...but don't expect much but a bunch of propositional and modal logic gone mad and weird.
Nagel might get into this stuff too, can't remember for sure.
And there is a guy named Mynonge(sp), he had some layered reality stuff in his work.

The fire this concept receives is unparalleled...its not only a pretty new concept but its convoluted. Its also has a basis as a pretty over-intellectual and slick defense for the existence of God.

My problem with it is very simple. Possibility and actuality are never properties in the same action or existant. If something is or was only possible, no actuality can be made of it. It's just wishful and regret thinking that one may have done otherwise in any given situation. Or that there could be some sort of prediction mechanism. There can be no elevation of possible world above the actual world we live in because any observation or experience with a possible world occurrs in the actual world. Any elevated status belongs to a epistemicaly provable situation.

Possible worlds are like looking back at your breakfast at noontime and saying it was possible that i could have had a bunch of different cerals instead of corn flakes, and for evey slightly different scenerio(that didn't occurr) a possible world was created in which you did eat ither cereals, or eggs, etc...and in which is running paralell to byour life now.Where? noone can say. When? noone knows. How? ????

Only the things that come to pass can be called reality and have any effact on you. All other things are figments. Possible worlds are best left to movies...not tryiong to prove God's existence or a myriad of other spectral things that need justification.

If we are gonna use the possible worlds things to prove anything, why not prove Vampires exist in a possible world...or in a possible world a machine with 100% energy efficency...then bring it here, we could use that. or Goblins...why not aliens possibly conquered the Earth this morning instead of me eating corn flakes...its possible. But it most certainly is not reality.

PS.Sorry i can't give ya more. Not my speciality, but I did have to learn a bit of it in school. My speciality is more social insight, existentialism, and phil of Religion. hey, at least I have a winded, semi-informed opinion on it.;)

[CJD]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that Saint Anselm's (1033–1109) argument that God is that Being than which a greater being cannot be conceived rests upon the idea of "all possible worlds." At any rate, I think a discussion about the use of "possible worlds" would be amiss if it did not include Anselm.

Regards,

CJD

[Bilbo]

luvluv asks:

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Possible Worlds Question : Who was the originator of this concept?
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Leibniz is usually credited with the discovery and development of the concept. In recent years, the idea has been revived, and put to use in the semantic interpretation of alethic modality.

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Is there any book that deals primarily with the origins of this philosophical tool and it's applications?
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There is literally a mountain of literature on the possible worlds interpretation of modality, as well as their applications. Most of it quite recent, as the subject is one of the current hot spots in contemporary philosophy.

As for historical treatments of the subject; they do not appear to be the order of the day. One book that does make a worthy attempt to detail its historical development (at least in 20th century) is John Diver's recent book: Possible Worlds. (Routledge, 2002). The book cannot be recommended as an introductory text to the subject however.

For standard introductory level texts, I would recommend Prior's: Time and Modality, Plantinga's The Nature of Necessity, The opening chapter of Loux': The Actual and the Possible, or the first few chapters of Forbes' The Metaphysics of Modality.

Regards,

Bilbo.

[Prodros]

Who was the originator of this concept?
Leibniz was the first to use this concept in arguing that although the world God created was the best of possible worlds, it was not necessarily a perfect world.

Is there any book that deals primarily with the origins of this philsophical tool and it's applications?
As for the applications of this concept, try David Lewis' On the Plurality of Worlds (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0631224262/qid=1063369672/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/104-6466054-0941524?v=glance&s=books). This is not an introductory text to the topic, but a defense of modal realism (i.e. the thesis that possible worlds actually exist).

IMO, although I see uses for the concept of possible worlds, I lean towards what Lewis calls linguistic ersatzism (possible worlds do not have ontological status; they are merely maximally consistent sets of sentences).

I hope this helps.

T...