We live in a world of possibilities. Much of our practical life &ndash\; planning\, deciding\, hoping and \;fearing &ndash\; only makes sense before a background of options to choose from and possibilities for \;what the future will bring: real possibilities in concrete situations. Such real possibilities are \;dynamical: they vanish when they are not actualized. Real possibilities are commonly represented \;within branching frameworks such as provided by the Prior-Thomason account of Branching Time \;and Belnap&rsquo\;s theory of Branching Space-Times. In those branching frameworks our world is \;pictured as a tree of histories branching off from a single past course of events into multiple \;possible futures. Work on real possibility has so far been mainly technical\, e.g.\, in the formal-logical study of the semantics of the future tense and the problem of future contingents. \;In this workshop we want to combine logical and philosophical aspects of real possibility. \;Important logical questions concern the interaction of time\, modality and quantifcation. \;Connected to these logical issues there are questions of interpretation: How should a branching \;structure be understood in the first place? Are all branches equally real? What is the difference between branching and divergence? How can individuals be situated within a branching picture? \;Exploring the relation of real possibility to other notions of possibility is another desideratum. \;Metaphysical and physical possibilities are prominent in accounts of causality and laws of nature. \;The role of real possibilities in metaphysics and in the sciences still needs to be assessed.
\nThis workshop is \;as a satellite workshop following the GAP.8 conference of the Society for Analytic Philosophy in \;Germany\, 17-20 September 2012 (see: GAP.8 website: http://www.gap8.de/).
Attendance of the workshop is free\, but limited due to space restrictions\; if you wish to attend\, \;please send email to \;possibilities@phil.uu.nl.
WIRP-2 is the second workshop of the NWO VIDI research project "What is Really Possible? \;Philosophical explorations in branching-history based real modality" hosted by the Department of \;Philosophy of Utrecht University. See: \;http://possibilities.phil.uu.nl/.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us via \;possibilities@phil.uu.nl.
For more information\, see the workshop website:
ORGANIZER;CN="Thomas Müller";CN=Antje Rumberg: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR