CEFISES Seminar: Barbara Vetter, ‘Modal Epistemology and the T axiom’ (online only)

Livestream TBA

Series: Metametaphysics

Speaker: Barbara Vetter (Freie Universität Berlin)

Venue: Online only, link TBA

Title: ‘Modal Epistemology and the T axiom’

Abstract

In the epistemology of modality, philosophers often begin by assuming that
there is one easy way to learn about possibilities: the inference from
actuality to possibility, or ab esse ad posse. I suggest that, if we are
looking for a cognitive account of our ordinary human knowledge of
possibility, the T axiom is not nearly as natural as has been assumed; it
is a theoretical achievement. My argument draws on historical
considerations from Aristotle as well as recent work in semantics.