Western Philosophy Department Colloquium - "Superficially a priori necessities"

Dr Eric Hiddleston (Wayne State University)

This paper describes a class of sentences that I call ‘superficially a priori necessities’, and argues that they have an application to the mind-body problem.  These sentences are a priori for the same reasons found in traditional cases of the contingent a priori, but they are also necessary.  They are both necessary and a priori, but their necessity and their apriority derive from entirely different sources.  Such cases are rife with the potential for philosophical confusion.  I attempt to describe some such cases, give examples of the sorts of confusions that can arise from them, and suggest an application to the mind-body problem.