The Bounds of Possibility : Puzzles of Modal Variation

Cian Dorr

ISBN 10: 0192846655 / ISBN 13: 9780192846655

Published by Oxford University Press Feb 2022, 2022

About this Item

Neuware - This book focuses on the question of how much variation in the properties of an individual object there can be, and if it remains the same object. It investigates competing strategies and engages with foundational questions about the metaphysics of modality.

Seller Inventory # 9780192846655

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Bounds of Possibility : Puzzles of Modal Variation
• Publisher: Oxford University Press Feb 2022
• Publication Date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0192846655
• ISBN 13: 9780192846655
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 229W x 150H x 30D millimeters 229 millimeters width by 150 millimeters height by 30 millimeters depth
• Weight: 794 grams

About this title

Synopsis

In general, a given object could have been different in certain respects. For example, the Great Pyramid could have been somewhat shorter or taller; the Mona Lisa could have had a somewhat different pattern of colours; an ordinary table could have been made of a somewhat different quantity of wood. But there seem to be limits. It would be odd to suppose that the Great Pyramid could have been thimble-sized; that the Mona Lisa could have had the pattern of colours that actually characterizes The Scream; or that the table could have been made of the very quantity of wood that in fact made some other table. However, there are puzzling arguments that purport to show that so long as an object is capable of being somewhat different in some respect, it is capable of being radically different in that respect. These arguments rely on two tempting thoughts: first, that an object's capacity for moderate variation is a non-contingent matter, and second, that what is possibly possible is simply possible. The Bounds of Possibility systematically investigates competing strategies for resolving these puzzles, and defends one of them. Along the way it engages with foundational questions about the metaphysics of modality.

About the Author

Cian Dorr, Professor of Philosophy, New York University,John Hawthorne, Professor of Philosophy, University of Southern California,Juhani Yli-Vakkuri, Senior Research Fellow, Dianoia Institute of Philosophy, Australian Catholic University

Cian Dorr studied at University College, Cork and Princeton University. He is currently Professor of Philosophy at New York University, and has previously held positions at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Oxford.


John Hawthorne is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California and at the Dianoia Institute of Philosophy at the Australian Catholic University. He was previously Waynflete Professor of Metaphysical Philosophy at the University of Oxford.


Juhani Yli-Vakkuri is Senior Research Fellow at the Dianoia Institute of Philosophy at the Australian Catholic Unieversity. He was previously Professor of Philosophy of Language at the University of Tartu.