Note: list of modal forms--necessarily, possibly, not; behaves like forAll and thereExists; be careful of secondary occurrences

Note

Modal forms: given P have 1) P: I am a contender, 2) not-P: I am not a contender, 3) necessarily, P: I must have been a contender, 4) possibly, P: I could have been a contender, 5) Necessarily, not-P: I could not have been a contender, or I must have been a non- contender, 6) not necessarily, P: It's not true that I must have been a contender, 7) possibly not P: I might not have been a contender, 8) not possibly P: I could not have been a contender. 'not', 'necessarily' [Carnap's, square], and 'possibly' [diamond] are generic representatives for negation and contingency. Behaves like forAll and thereExists. P is contingent == P and possibly, not-P. P => possibly, P. Necessarily, P => P. Be careful of secondary/primary occurrence e.g., "possibly not-(the inventor of bifocals invented bifocals)" is false but "for some x, x=inventor of bifocals and possibly not-(X invented bifocals)" is true. de re is "for all x, necessarily, phi(x)" (in rapport with a specific object, e.g., 'I want that' referring to a coat in a window), while de dicto is "necessarily, for all x, phi(x)"

Additional Titles

Note: de re beliefs hold for a specific object while de dicto beliefs hold for all objects

Related Topics

Topic: necessary truth (24 items)
Topic: beliefs and propositional attitudes (28 items)