Possible Worlds
Updated 2026-09-10
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
Possible worlds are the central tool of modal logic and metaphysics: necessity, possibility, and contingency are interpreted as truth values across all or some possible worlds. The dispute concerns what possible worlds are, whether concrete universes like ours, or abstract maximal consistent states of affairs or sets of propositions. The accessibility relation between worlds determines which modal system results.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Modal translation: render necessity and possibility as quantifiers over a domain of worlds, turning modal reasoning into quantificational reasoning. - Counterfactual reasoning: construct the closest alternative worlds to our own and test causal and dependence relations.
Anchor fast decisions
The usefulness of possible worlds comes from semantics: once modal operators are interpreted as quantifiers over a domain of worlds, a necessary truth is true in all accessible worlds and a possible truth in some accessible world. The structure of the accessibility relation determines the strength of the modal system, converting obscure modal reasoning into first-order quantificational reasoning.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- plato.stanford.eduhttps://plato.stanford.edu/entries/possible-worlds/verified
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