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In Defense of the New Actualism: Dispositional Modal Truthmakers and the Branching Conception of Possibility

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In Defense of the New Actualism: Dispositional Modal Truthmakers and the Branching Conception of Possibility IN DEFENSE OF THE NEW ACTUALISM: DISPOSITIONAL MODAL TRUTHMAKERS AND THE BRANCHING CONCEPTION OF POSSIBILITY by CHAD VANCE B.S., University of Florida, 1999 M.A., Southern Evangelical Seminary, 2006 M.A., University of Colorado Boulder, 2008 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Colorado in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Philosophy 2013 This thesis entitled: In Defense of the New Actualism: Dispositional Modal Truthmakers and the Branching Conception of Possibility written by Chad Vance has been approved by the Department of Philosophy ______________________________ Graeme Forbes, committee chair ______________________________ Robert Rupert, committee member Date ________________ The final copy of this thesis has been examined by the signatories, and we find that both the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards of scholarly work in the above mentioned discipline. Vance, Chad (Ph.D., Philosophy) In Defense of the New Actualism: Dispositional Modal Truthmakers and the Branching Conception of Possibility Thesis directed by Professor Graeme Forbes Abstract: You could be going for a walk right now. This seems true—but what makes it true? Here is a popular answer : It is true that you could be going for a walk right now because there exists some possible world (beyond the actual world) where you are going for a walk now; or else, because there is some abstract, representational entity which represents you as going for a walk now. I think this is mistaken. I take a more common-sense approach, arguing instead that the modal truths (i.e., truths about metaphysical possibility and necessity) are made true by the capabilities, or dispositional properties, of actual objects. For instance, in the case just stated, it is true that you could be going for a walk right now so long as you have the capacity to do so. In light of this conclusion, I then argue for three related ones: (1) First, an essential property of each individual is its unique origin. For instance, the table in front of me, which originated from a particular hunk of pine wood, could not have originated from, say, a block of ice. (2) Second, metaphysical possibility is just a unique species of de re modality, such that the metaphysical possibilities are just the ways this world could be. (3) Finally, an essential property of the actual world is its unique origin, such that all of the metaphysical possibilities must share some initial, causally potent entity or entities in common. In short, either some causally potent necessary being exists—e.g., God—or else there is necessarily an actual infinite number of contingent beings; namely, a beginningless series of contingent causes. iii CONTENTS INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………… 1 1 POSSIBILITY, WORLDS, AND MODAL TRUTH………………………… 4 Introduction………………………………………………………………………….. 4 1 The Varieties of Possibility………………………………………………………… 5 1.1 Logical Possibility…………………………………………………………….. 5 1.1.1 Broad Versus Narrow Logical Possibility……………………………....... 5 1.1.2 On the Disagreement About Terms in the Literature…………….……... 6 1.2 Nomological Possibility……………………………………………….……… 9 1.3 Metaphysical Possibility……………………………………………………...... 9 2 Logical Possibility Metaphysical Possibility…………………………………...….. 10 2.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………….. 10 2.2 A Posteriori Necessities Linguistic Convention…………………………….. 11 2.2.1 <Water = H2O>…………………….……………………………….. 11 2.2.2 Against <Water = H2O>…………………………………………….. 12 2.2.3 Against Causal A Posteriori Necessities…….…………………………... 17 2.2.4 “Interesting” Metaphysical Necessities…………………………………. 19 2.3 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………… 22 3 Possible Worlds……………………………………………………………………. 23 3.1. Three Distinctions Concerning “Ways Things Could Be”……………………. 23 3.2 On the Ersatz/Non-Ersatz Distinction………………………………………. 24 3.3 Five Views of Possible Worlds………………………………………………... 25 3.4 Seven Views of Possible Worlds?……………………………………………... 28 4 Modal Truthmakers………………………………………………………………... 29 4.1 Three Distinctions Concerning Modal Truthmakers……………………..…… 29 4.2 Five Views of Modal Truthmakers…………………………………………… 30 2 ON TRUTHMAKING…………………………………………………………. 33 Introduction………………………………………………………………………….. 33 1 Analysis, Truth Conditions, and Truthmakers…………………………………..…. 34 1.1 Analysis…………………………………………………………………..…... 34 1.2 Truth Conditions…………………………………………………..…………. 35 1.2.1 Definition…………………………………….………………………… 35 iv 1.2.2 Regarding Necessary Truths and Symmetry……………………………. 36 1.2.3 Attributes……………………………….……………………………… 39 1.3 Truthmakers…………………………………………………………………. 41 1.4 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………… 43 2 In Support of Truthmaker Maximalism………………………………………….... 44 2.1 Truthmaker Maximalism…………………………………………………….. 44 2.2 Truthmakers for Negative Truths……………………………………………. 45 2.2.1 Four Categories of Negative Truth…………………………………….. 45 2.2.2 Incompatibilities……………………………………………………….. 46 2.2.3 Absences………………………………………………………………. 47 2.2.4 Cambridge Properties………………………………………………….. 48 2.3 Truthmakers for the Closure Clause…………………………………………. 50 2.3.1 The Need for Closure………………………………………………….. 50 2.3.2 Objects……………………………………………………………….... 52 2.3.3 Properties……………………………………………………………… 54 2.3.4 States of Affairs………………………………………………………... 55 2.3.5 Conclusion…………………………………………………………….. 56 2.4 Primitive Closure Versus Primitive Truth……………………………………. 58 3 ACTUAL NON-ERSATZ MODAL TRUTHMAKERS……………………. 63 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………. 63 1 The Actualist Non-Ersatzist Intuition……………………………….……………... 63 2 Against Non-ANT Accounts of Modal Truthmaking……………………………… 65 2.1 Against Subjectivist Accounts………………………………………………... 65 2.2 Against Non-Actualist Accounts…………………………………………….. 66 2.2.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………… 66 2.2.2 The Actuality Objection……………………………………………….. 67 2.2.3 The Plenitude Objection………………………………………………. 68 2.2.4 The Metaphysical Accident Objection…………………………………. 70 2.2.5 The Epistemological Objection………………………………………... 71 2.2.6 The Indiscernible Worlds Objection…………………………………… 73 2.2.7 The Parsimony Objection……………………………………………… 73 2.2.8 The Humphrey Objection……………………………………………... 74 2.3 Against Ersatz Accounts…………………………………………………….. 81 2.3.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………… 81 2.3.2 The Metaphysical Accident Objection…………………………………. 81 2.3.3 The Epistemological Objection………………………………………... 83 2.3.4 The Parsimony Objection……………………………………………... 83 2.3.5 The Humphrey Objection……………………………………………... 84 2.4 Analysis, Truth Conditions, and Truthmakers Again………………………… 86 v 3 In Favor of the ANT Account of Modal Truthmaking…………………………….. 90 3.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………. 90 3.2 The ANT Account vs. Other Accounts…………………………………….... 91 3.2.1 The Subjectivist Objection…………………………………………….. 91 3.2.2 The Actuality Objection……………………………………………….. 91 3.2.3 The Plenitude and Metaphysical Accident Objections…………………. 92 3.2.4 The Epistemological Objection………………………………………... 93 3.2.5 The Parsimony Objection…………………………………………….... 93 3.2.6 The Humphrey Objection…………………………………………….... 93 3.3 Actual Non-Ersatz Causal Modal Truthmakers……………………………… 94 3.3.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………… 94 3.3.2 Three Candidates for Actual Non-Ersatz Modal Truthmakers…………. 96 3.3.3 New Actualist Dispositionalism………………………………………… 100 4 DISPOSITIONAL TRUTHMAKERS AND THE NECESSARY ORIGIN 102 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………. 102 1 New Actualist Dispositionalism (NAD)…………………………………………… 103 2 The General Overlap Requirement (GOR)……………………………………….... 105 3 The Branching Conception of Modality…………………………………………… 107 4 Forward Branching, But Not Backward Branching………………………………… 109 5 The Necessary Origin……………………………………………………………… 114 6 Indeterminism and Alternate Possibilities………………………………………….. 118 7 Objections…………………………………………………………………………. 121 7.1 This is Nomological Possibility, Not Metaphysical Possibility………………... 121 7.2 Conceivability Possibility…………………………………………………... 124 7.3 Modality is a Primitive………………………………………………………... 125 7.4 Modal Skepticism…………………………………………………………….. 129 7.5 The Necessary Concrete Being……………………………………………….. 130 7.6 Something Completely Different……………………………………………... 133 7.7 Alien Properties………………………………………………………………. 135 5 THE NECESSITY OF ORIGIN AND THE RECYCLING PROBLEM…. 138 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………. 138 1 Two Central Features of “Kripke-Style” Arguments……………………………….. 139 2 The Recycling Problem…………………………………………………………….. 141 vi 3 Predecessor Essentialism: An Unsatisfactory Solution……………………………... 144 3.1 Predecessor Essentialism Stated……………………………………………… 144 3.2 Two Objections to Predecessor Essentialism………………………………… 146 4 Causal-Historical Essentialism: An Alternative Solution…………………………… 151 4.1 Causal-Historical Essentialism Stated……………………………………….... 151 4.2 Causal-Historical Essentialism vs. Predecessor Essentialism………..………... 151 4.3 An Objection to Causal-Historical Essentialism……………………..……….. 156 4.4 Individuating Origin Events.…………………………………………………. 157 4.5 The Susceptibility of Events to Recycling…………………………………….. 159 5 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………. 160 6 THE NECESSITY OF ORIGIN AND DE RE MODALITY……………… 162 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………. 162 1 The Necessity of Origin and Branching for De Re Modalities…………………….... 162 2 Necessity of Origin for Inanimate Objects………………………………………… 164 3 Metaphysical Possibility is De Re Possibility……………………………………….. 166 3.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………. 166 3.2 De Re Modality and the Numerical Identity Requirement (NIR)…………….. 166 3.3 Ways THE World Could
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