Lexicon of Arguments

 

IV 42
Similarity/Similarity Metric/Possible World/Lewis: problems: which aspects count, what importance do they have, how far can dissimilarity go?
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V 46
Similarity/Possible World/Counterfactual Dependence/Lewis: the similarity relation between possible worlds should not require that miracles become necessary in differing possible worlds - SR/Similarity relation/Lewis: I do not think that they often guide our explicit judgment, but the overall similarity must be part of the desired similarity relation. - Congruence of local facts not important, but avoiding major violations of laws of nature. - E.g. small miracle: Nixon presses the button, but the signal is suppressed. - Big Miracle: In addition, all traces are blurred, Nixon’s memoirs are falsified, etc., i.e. the worlds become indistinguishable.
V 48
Small miracle: allows deviation. - Big Miracle: allows convergence. >Miracles/Lewis.
V 49
Divergence is much easier to achieve than convergence - counterfactual asymmetry: exists, because the appropriate standards of similarity in turn are symmetric and in correspondence to the asymmetry of miracles.
V 53
This is certainly about the weighting of various similarities.
V 163f
Similarity/Possible world/Similarity metric/Lewis: actually three-digit relation. - w1 is closer to w than w2. - Similarities of facts balance each other against similarity of laws. - Similarity laws are important for the character of possible worlds - Similarity: We do not make the condition that there should be only one single next possible world or merely a next set. >Similarity metrics/Lewis, >possible worlds/Lewis.