What if modality and history

Advocates of the deliberate use of thought experiments in history … Expand. Does history matter in strategy? The possibilities and problems of counterfactual analysis. The lack of attention given to historical perspectives in the mainstream literature suggests that it does not.

Recently, however, authors have argued that historical … Expand. Counterfactual Histories of Science and the Contingency Thesis.

Remodeling the Past. In some of the papers in which she develops and defends the mental modelview of thought experiments in physics, Nersessian expresses the belief that her account has implications for thought … Expand.

View 1 excerpt, cites background. The essay … Expand. Impossibilities are incompossibilities between possibilities Ord. This is a denial of the traditional thesis of the necessity of the present and the temporal frequency characterization of contingency.

What is actual is contingently so if, instead of being actual, it could be not actual. This conception of simultaneous contingent alternatives is part of an argument that the first cause does not act necessarily. According to Scotus, the eternal creative act of divine will is free only if it could be other than it is in a real sense Lect. One of these was the idea of possibility as a non-existent precondition of all being and thinking.

In his discussion of eternal truths, Descartes criticized the classical view of the ontological foundation of modality as well as the Scotist theory of modality and conceivability.

Another influential idea was the distinction between logical and natural necessities and possibilities. Against this background one could ask which of the natural invariances treated as necessities in earlier natural philosophy were necessary in this strong sense of necessity, and which of them were merely empirical generalizations without being logically necessary.

For a discussion of logical and natural necessities in the fourteenth century, see Knuuttila , —, a. Buridan distinguished between logical and natural necessities in his classification of four grades of necessity Dialectica 8. This was the main modal conception in the Averroist Aristotle commentaries by John of Jandun see, for example, his questions on Metaphysics , IX.

One important branch of medieval logic developed in treatises called De obligationibus dealt, roughly speaking, with how an increasing set of true and false propositions might remain coherent in a disputation. According to thirteenth-century rules, a false present tense statement could be accepted as a starting point only if it was taken to refer to a moment of time different from the actual one. Scotus deleted this rule, based on the Aristotelian axiom of the necessity of the present, and later theories accepted the Scotist revision.

In this new form, obligations logic could be regarded as a theory of how to analyze possible states of affairs and their mutual relationships.

In dealing with counterfactual hypotheses of indirect proofs mentioned above, Averroes and Thomas Aquinas made use of the idea of abstract possibilities which did not imply the idea of alternative domains. The possibilities of a thing can be dealt with at various levels which correspond to Porphyrian predicables. Something which is possible for a thing as a member of a genus can be impossible for it as a member of a species. The same holds of it as a member of a species and an individuated thing.

Thus humans can fly because there are other animals which can fly. These abstract possibilities are impossible in the sense that they cannot be actualized. Buridan heavily criticized this approach from the point of view of his modal theory. He argued that if a counterfactual state of affairs is possible, it can be coherently imagined as actual.

If something cannot be treated in this way, calling it possible is based on conceptual confusion. See Knuuttila and Kukkonen While Scotus, Buridan and many others understood the basic level of possibility in terms of semantic consistency, Ockham wanted to preserve the link to the notion of power in his modal considerations, thinking that necessity is actuality plus immutability, the past and the present are necessary, and Scotus was wrong in assuming that things could be different from how they are at the very moment of their actuality Normore Influenced by the new ideas about logical modality, William of Ockham Summa logicae , John Buridan Tractatus de consequentiis , Summulae de Dialectica and some other fourteenth-century authors could formulate the principles of modal logic much more completely and satisfactorily than did their predecessors.

Questions of modal logic were discussed separately with respect to modal propositions de dicto and de re ; modal propositions de re were further divided into two groups depending on whether the subject terms refer to actual or possible beings. It was thought that logicians should also analyze the relationships between these readings and, furthermore, the consequences having various types of modal sentences as their parts.

Ockham, Buridan and their followers largely dropped thirteenth-century essentialist assumptions from modal syllogistic. For fourteenth-century modal logic, see King ; Lagerlund ; Thom ; Knuuttila , —; Read This is done in Johnston Compound de dicto and divided de re readings do not differ at this level, but are separated in dealing with universal and particular propositions.

While Ockham did not discuss unrestricted divided necessity propositions, Buridan took the subject terms of all quantified divided modal propositions as standing for possible beings if they are not restricted.

The truth of these propositions demands the truth of all or some relevant singular propositions of the type just mentioned; the demonstrative pronoun is then taken to refer to the possible beings even though they may not exist. The new modal logic was among the most remarkable achievements of medieval logic. It was embraced by Marsilius of Inghen, Albert of Saxony, Jodocus Trutfetter and others Lagerlund , —; for the later influence of medieval modal theories, see also Coombs ; Knebel ; Roncaglia , ; Schmutz The rise of the new modal logic was accompanied by elaborated theories of epistemic logic Boh and deontic logic Knuuttila and Hallamaa Aspects of Ancient Modal Paradigms 2.

Early Medieval Developments 3. Modalities in Thirteenth-Century Logical Treatises 4. Aspects of Ancient Modal Paradigms In speaking about the general features of the universe, ancient philosophers were inclined to think that all generic possibilities will be actualized, a habit of thinking called the principle of plenitude by Arthur O. Borgnet, vol. Wallies, Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca 2. Sharples, London: Duckworth, Ammonius, In Aristotelis De interpretatione commentarius , ed.

Busse, Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca 4. Kretzmann, with Essays by R. Mignucci, London: Duckworth, Critical edition, Introduction, Notes, and Indices by C. Anselm of Canterbury, Opera omnia , 6 vols. Schmitt, Edinburgh: Nelson, — Averroes, Aristotelis Opera cum Averrois commentariis , vol.

Meiser, Leipzig: Teubner, — De Rijk, L. Garland the Computist, Dialectica , ed. A Translation of Sefer ha-Heqqesh ha-Yashar, with an introduction, commentary, and analytical glossary by C.

Gilbert of Poitiers, The Commentaries on Boethius , ed. John Buridan, Quaestiones super libros De generatione et corruptione Aristotelis. A critical edition with an introduction by M. Sreijger, P. Bakker and J. Hubien, Louvain: Publications Universitaires, , translated with an introduction by S. John of Jandun, Quaestiones in duodecim libros Metaphysicae , Venice, Peter Abelard, Dialectica , ed. Jacobi and C. Cantin, Paris: Cerf, Peter of Poitiers, Sententiae I , ed. Moore and M. Peter of Spain, Tractatus , ed.

Philoponus, In Aristotelis Analytica priora commentaria , ed. Wallies, Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca Radulphus Brito, Quaestiones super Priora analytica Aristotelis , ed.

Wilson, Leuven: Leuven University Press, I, ed. Thom and J. Thomas Aquinas, In Aristotelis Peri hermeneias expositio , ed. Spiazzi, Turin: Marietti, ; trans. Oesterle, Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, William of Ockham, Summa logicae , ed. Boehner, G. Bonaventure: Franciscan Institute of St. Bonaventure University, William of Sherwood, Introduction to Logic , trans.

Kretzmann, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, Secondary sources Alanen, L. Horowitz and G. Massey eds. Becker, O. Belo, C. Binini, I. Bobzien, S. Ebert eds. Boh, I. Buchheim, T. Kneepkens and K. Lorenz eds. Coombs, J. Friedman and L. Nielsen eds. Craig, W. De Haan, D. Dekker, E. Dutilh Novaes, C. Ebbesen, S. Ebert, T. Flannery, K. Freddoso, A.

Kluyver ; Van Wijk : — [originally published in ] , and one of them, Den Hertog : [original from ] , explicitly attributed the term to Kant. An interesting use is found in Sapir Another example is the grammar by Zandvoort. Lyons p. The Lyons case is interesting. It was in this period that modality became important in English linguistics.

Lyons was not the only linguist to effectuate this change. Major players were Leech and following , Halliday a and following , Palmer and following , and Coates Each of these authors discussed English auxiliaries such as must and may in terms of a notion of modality. The contrast with e. An important catalyst of change was Palmer , and, interestingly, here we again witness linguistics turning to logic and philosophy.

Von Wright had four types: alethic, epistemic, deontic, and existential. It so happens that in English the modal auxiliaries are a particularly thorny subject, both formally—they are special verbs—and semantically—they are highly polyfunctional.

To some extent, this happened for French too. The Bally approach was influential in France and beyond, in Russia through the work of Vinogradov; V.

Plungian p. But in current Japan, like everywhere else, it is the English language way of doing grammar and p. Right now, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the notion of modality is used widely and in many different ways see Chapter 3. The first line of thought, that of modality replacing Protagorean mood, typical for nineteenth-century Kant, inspired linguistics but it was not taken up.

The second line of thought, with modality including Protagorian mood, is found in current research e. Portner : 6, — , but it is not a mainstream idea. But there is a lot of divergence and confusion here. Eisenberg : 98; Palmer : 21—23, 33; : 4; Bybee et al. For Hengeveld mood is a formal category only not restricted to morphology corresponding to the semantic categories of modality and illocution.

Day : His current research focuses on grammatical semantics and typology including areal typology and dialectology , with special reference to mood, modality, negation, indefinites, and impersonals.

He is the editor in chief of the journal Linguistics. Hi current research focuses on history, historiography, and epistemology of Linguistics. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a title in Oxford Handbooks Online for personal use for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice.

Oxford Handbooks Online. Publications Pages Publications Pages. Recently viewed 0 Save Search. The History of Modality and Mood. The Oxford Handbook of Modality and Mood. Read More. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. Subscriber sign in You could not be signed in, please check and try again.

Username Please enter your Username. Password Please enter your Password. Forgot password? Don't have an account? Sign in via your Institution. You could not be signed in, please check and try again. Sign in with your library card Please enter your library card number. Search within In This Article 2. Go to page:. The History of Modality and Mood Abstract and Keywords This chapter traces the current understanding of mood or mode and modality back in time, in the Western tradition, giving pride of place to F.

Quintilian, website accessed November 14, , Latin terms added from original Interestingly, Quintilian did not tell us here—or anywhere else in his Institutio oratoria —what a mood is. Kemp : , Greek terms added from original Here too there was no definition of mood, but there is at least a classification, and the number of moods was not the six or eight alluded to by Quintilian, but five.

The Possibility of a thing, depends on the power of its cause, and be expressed when by the Particle 2. The Liberty of a thing, depends upon a freedom from all Obstacles either within or without, and is usually expressed in our Language, when by the Particle Then a thing seems to be of Necessity, when the speaker expresseth the resolution of his own will, or some other obligation from without. The Inclination of the will is expressed, if by the Particles 4. The Necessity of a thing, from some external obligation, whether Natural or Moral which we call duty, is expressed, if by the particle Wilkins : , see also Vorlat : — p.

Kant : 76 p. Click to view larger. All rights reserved. Philosophical Review 68, no. The Logical Basis of Metaphysics. Cambridge, Mass. Elder, Crawford. Real Natures and Familiar Objects.

Glock, Hans-Johann. Stern eds. Grover, D. Philosophical Studies 73— Hilbert, David. Foundations of Geometry. Peru, Illinois: Open Court. Translated by Leo Unger. Kripke, Saul. Naming and Necessity. Lewis, David K. On the Plurality of Worlds. Mackie, J. Quine, W. Rea, Michael C. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Roy, Tony.