Accessibility, Kinds, and Laws

A Structural Explication

Bibliographic Data

ID10705361
AuthorsThomas Mormann (0000-0002-7727-0610, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, corresponding author)
Year1994
Volume61
Issue3
Pages389-406
Publication date1994-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePhilosophy of Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0031-8248 • E-ISSN: 1539-767X
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1086/289810
OpenAlexW2047465006
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited20

“Accessibility” is a crucial concept of possible worlds semantics. The simplest approach to accessibility is the “magical theory” that construes this relation as analogous to spatial or temporal relations. In this paper I give a nonmagical structural account of the accessibility relation that can be used to give a necessitarian account of kinds and laws. Laws are characterized in a structural way as stable invariants of the world's gestalt. Finally, I point out how the structural approach can be embedded in a general representational theory of modality

Algorithm · Epistemology · Explication · Geometry · Gestalt psychology · Mathematical economics · Modality (human–computer interaction) · Physical law · Point (geometry) · Programming language · Relation (database) · Semantics (computer science) · Sketch · Artificial Intelligence · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Computer Science · Law · Mathematics · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Philosophy and Theoretical Science

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