The Metaphysics of Modality (Claredon Library of Logic and Philosophy)

Analytic philosophy has recently demonstrated a revived interest in metaphysical problems about possibility and necessity. Graeme Forbes here provides a careful description of the logical background of recent work in this area for those who may be unfamiliar with it, moving on to discuss the distinction between modality de re and modality de dicto and the ontological commitments of possible worlds semantics. In addition, Forbes offers a unified theory of the essential properties of sets, organisms, artefacts, substances, and events, based on the doctrine that identity facts must be intrinsically grounded, and analyzes and rejects apparent counterexamples to this doctrine.Forbes, Graeme is the author of 'The Metaphysics of Modality (Claredon Library of Logic and Philosophy)', published 1986 under ISBN 9780198244332 and ISBN 0198244339.