Laws, Modality, and Knowledge

Boris Kment (Princeton University )

Laws, Modality, and Knowledge

During the last 30 years, some philosophers have proposed analyses of metaphysical modality in terms of a hyperintensional notion of essence. One challenge for proponents of this view is to give a plausible explanation of our modal knowledge. The goal of this paper is to develop a strategy for meeting this challenge. I propose a slight variant of the essentialist view of modality, according to which not all necessity flows from the essential truths. Instead, the source of necessity resides in a somewhat broader class of truths that I call metaphysical laws. With some exceptions, modal knowledge requires knowledge of the metaphysical laws. I argue that one important route to such knowledge is through scientific investigation and the philosophically informed interpretation of scientific theories. Metaphysical laws play a central role in the explanation of observable facts, and knowledge of them is crucial to achieving the core scientific goals of understanding and control. Consequently, many scientific theories, when made fully explicit and interpreted in light of the insights of recent metaphysics, incorporate assumptions about the metaphysical laws. These assumptions gain support from the abductive considerations employed in establishing the scientific theories and the metaphysical views used to interpret them.

LINK: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87649813438