Ruth Barcan Marcus and quantified modal logic
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21597895 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Frederique Janssen‐Lauret (0000-0003-0862-7556, Department of Philosophy, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK, corresponding author), Frederique Janssen-Lauret (Department of Philosophy, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 353-383 |
| Publication date | 2022-03-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | British Journal for the History of Philosophy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0960-8788 • E-ISSN: 1469-3526 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09608788.2021.1984872 |
| OpenAlex | W3211867045 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 43 |
Analytic philosophy in the mid-twentieth century underwent a major change of direction when a prior consensus in favour of extensionalism and descriptivism made way for approaches using direct reference, the necessity of identity, and modal logic. All three were first defended, in the analytic tradition, by one woman, Ruth Barcan Marcus. But analytic philosophers now tend to credit them to Kripke, or Kripke and Carnap. I argue that seeing Barcan Marcus in her historical context – one dominated by extensionalism and descriptivism – allows us to see how revolutionary she was, in her work and influence on others. I focus on her debate with Quine, who found himself retreating to softened, and more viable, versions of his anti-modal arguments as a result. I make the case that Barcan's formal logic was philosophically well-motivated, connected to her views on reference, and well-matched to her overall views on ontology. Her nominalism led her to reject posits which could not be directly observed and named, such as possibilia. She conceived of modal calculi as facilitating counterfactual discourse about actual existents. I conclude that her contributions ought to be recognized as the first of their kind. Barcan Marcus must be awarded a central place in the canon of analytic philosophy
Aesthetics · Analytic philosophy · Contemporary philosophy · Counterfactual thinking · Epistemology · Metaphysics · Modal · Modal logic · Nominalism · Ontology · Possible world · Quine · History · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Philosophy and Theoretical Science · Philosophy, Science, and History
Carnap and Twentieth-Century Thought
V.—Knowledge by Acquaintance and Knowledge by Description
The Significance of the New Logic
A Modern Introduction to Logic.
Modal Logic as Metaphysics
A Backward Look at Quine's Animadversions on Modalities
Marcus and the new theory of reference
In Defense of the Simplest Quantified Modal Logic
Feminism and Carnap's Principle of Tolerance
Committing to an individual
Reply to professor Marcus
Marcus, Kripke, and the origin of the new theory of reference
Anti-essentialism, modal relativity, and alternative material-origin counterfactuals
Modalities and intensional languages
On a derivation of the necessity of identity
The Problem of the Morning Star and the Evening Star
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |