Philosophy Dictionary of ArgumentsHome | |||
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Contingency, philosophy: Contingency is not synonymous with randomness, but expresses that an existing fact could have been different. Its counterpart is necessity. See also coincidence, necessity, necessity de re._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
Author | Concept | Summary/Quotes | Sources |
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M.J. Cresswell on Contingency - Dictionary of Arguments
II 64 Contingent/Necessary/Predicate/Cresswell: suppose predicate P is contingent and applies to the objects a1, a2... N.B.: we can convert this contingent predicate into a necessary predicate: Necessary/Predicate: Q: should necessarily apply to precisely those objects to which P applies contingently. Solution: Q: "is a1 or a2 or is..." Meaning: the meaning of these two predicates is of course not the same, but it would have to be, because they apply to the same set of things. >Extensionality. Could there be two such predicates? Some perception predicates seem to work like this. E.g. Suppose the set of red and round things happened to be the same set - but the internal patterns (devices) in recognizing subjects are different. >Perception, >Attribution, >Observation, >Observation language, >Observation sentence._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Cr I M. J. Cresswell Semantical Essays (Possible worlds and their rivals) Dordrecht Boston 1988 Cr II M. J. Cresswell Structured Meanings Cambridge Mass. 1984 |