- This pseudo-Paper is intended as the mechanism to record time spent on the Note 'Modality1' during my Thesis research, as from 2011.
- For the actual time recorded, click on "Paper Statistics" above.
Write-up2 (as at 01/01/2026 17:28:19): Modality
Plug Note3
- Thesis Text:
- Modality – the logic of possibility and necessity – is important to my thesis because discussions of Personal Identity often range over merely possible – rather than actual – events that an individual4 might encounter and which might call that individual’s continued existence into doubt.
- This is particularly the case with the numerous popular thought experiments5 (TEs), one of which – Teletransportation6 – has a reference to this topic (the bungled duplication7 case and what this has to say about the standard singular case).
- Modality also features in the arguments over the logic of identity8 – in particular the standard view that Identity is a necessary relation, contra the heretical positions.
- "Sturgeon (Scott) - Zombies and Ghosts" has a useful categorisation of types of modality, and their relation to conceivability and genuine possibility.
- I doubt I need to get into Modal Realism (Lewis9) or other discussions about what modality reduces to ontologically.
- The same goes for the intricacies of Modal Logic, though a quick read through "Girle (Rod) - Modal Logics and Philosophy" might be beneficial.
- I need to review my old notes on "Kripke (Saul) - Naming and Necessity" and apply them to this Note where appropriate.
Further Remarks:
- At Heythrop, I came across Norman Malcolm’s Modal Ontological Argument, which explains why this topic features in the “already read” reading list.
References
- Relevant Works cited above:
- "Girle (Rod) - Modal Logics and Philosophy", 2000, Book, Read = 8%
- "Kripke (Saul) - Naming and Necessity", 1980, Book, Read
- "Sturgeon (Scott) - Zombies and Ghosts", 2000, Read = 89%
- For a Page of Links10 to this Note, Click here. Unfortunately, there are really too many references for the lists to be useful, other than to highlight what I’ve read on the topic, tangentially or otherwise.
- Works on this topic that I’ve actually read11, include the following:-
- General:
- "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - Naturalism and the First-Person Perspective: What Is The Problem?", 2013
- "Bealer (George) - The A Priori", 1999, Write-Up Note12
- "Blackburn (Simon) & Simmons (Keith) - Truth: Introduction", 1999, Internal PDF Link
- "Butchvarov (Panayot) - Being Qua Being: Introduction", 1979
- "Carter (William) - In Defense of Undetached Parts", 1983
- "Carter (William) - 'Partist' Resistance to the Many: Review of 'A Materialist Metaphysics of the Human Person' by Hud Hudson", 2004, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
- "Chisholm (Roderick) - Identity Through Possible Worlds: Some Questions", 1989, Write-Up Note13, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
- "Craig (William Lane) & Sinnott-Armstrong (Walter) - God?: A Debate between a Christian and an Atheist: Preface", 2003
- "Crane (Tim) & Farkas (Katalin) - Necessity: Introduction", 2004, Annotations
- "Dyke (Heather) - Review of Craig Bourne's 'A Future for Presentism'", 2008, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
- "Gibbard (Allan) - Contingent Identity", 1997, Write-Up Note14, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link
- "Hudson (Hud) - The Metaphysics of Hyperspace: Introduction", 2008
- "Jackson (Frank) - Epiphenomenal Qualia", 1999, Write-Up Note15, Internal PDF Link
- "Johnston (Mark) - Constitution is Not Identity", 1997, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
- "Jubien (Michael) - Modality", 1997
- "Kazez (Jean) - Life Doesn't Begin at Conception", 2017, External Link, Internal PDF Link
- "Kripke (Saul) - Naming and Necessity", 1980, Book
- "Kripke (Saul) - Naming and Necessity: Lecture I", 1980, Write-Up Note16
- "Kripke (Saul) - Naming and Necessity: Lecture III", 1980, Write-Up Note17
- "LePoidevin (Robin) - Is God Necessary?", 1996
- "Lewis (David) - Anselm and Actuality", 1970
- "Lewis (David) - Counterpart Theory and Quantified Modal Logic", 1968
- "Lewis (David) - Counterparts of Persons and Their Bodies", 1971, External Link, Internal PDF Link
- "Lewis (David) - On the Plurality of Worlds (Selections)", 2006
- "Lewis (David) - On the Plurality of Worlds: Preface", 1986, Internal PDF Link
- "Melia (Joseph) - Introduction to Modality", 2003
- "Noonan (Harold) - Constitution Is Identity", 1993, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
- "Noonan (Harold) - Identity and Determinacy", 2003, Annotations
- "Olson (Eric) - What Are We? Constitution", 2007, Write-Up Note18, Internal PDF Link
- "Olson (Eric) - What Are We? Temporal Parts", 2007, Write-Up Note19, Internal PDF Link
- "Reid (Jasper) - Kripke on Naming and Necessity (Course Notes)", 2015, Internal PDF Link
- "Robinson (Howard) - Dualism (Stanford)", 2003-11, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link
- "Sainsbury (Mark) - Philosophical Logic: Necessity", 1998, Annotations, No Abstract
- "Salmon (Nathan) - Reference and Essence - Prefaces & Introduction", 2005, External Link
- "Sider (Ted) - Critical Study of Michael Jubien's Ontology, Modality, and the Fallacy of Reference", 1999, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link
- "Sider (Ted) - Review of Lynne Rudder Baker, Persons and Bodies", 2002, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link
- "Simons (Peter) - Parts: A Study in Ontology - Concluding Remarks", 1987, Annotations
- "Simons (Peter) - Parts: A Study in Ontology - Introduction", 1987, Annotations
- "Snowdon (Paul) - Philosophy and the Mind/Body Problem", 2015, External Link
- "Snowdon (Paul) - The Self and Personal Identity", 2009, Write-Up Note20
- "Sorensen (Roy) - Thought Experiments: Introduction", 1992
- "Tobia (Kevin Patrick) - Does Religious Belief Infect Philosophical Analysis?", 2016, External Link, Internal PDF Link
- "Williams (Christopher) - Review of J.R.Lucas's 'The Future'", 1991, Internal PDF Link
- Ontological Argument:
- "Allen (R.E.) - The Ontological Argument", 1961, Internal PDF Link
- "Geisler (Norman) & Corduan (Winfried) - Ontological Arguments", 2003, Internal PDF Link
- "Malcolm (Norman) - Anselm's Ontological Arguments", 1960, Internal PDF Link
- "Plantinga (Alvin) - The Ontological Argument", 1974
- "Van Inwagen (Peter) - Necessary Being: the Ontological Argument", 1999
- There are lots of books and papers in the categorised reading list below, but I suppose the following are the ones to start with for a further reading list:-
- General:
- "Atkinson (Thomas) - Conceivability, Possibility and the Resurrection of Material Beings", 2016, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 27%
- "Bealer (George) - The Origins of Modal Error", 2004, Internal PDF Link
- "Bricker (Phillip) - Absolute Actuality and the Plurality of Worlds", 2006, Internal PDF Link
- "Bricker (Phillip) - David Lewis: On the Plurality of Worlds", 2006, External Link, Internal PDF Link
- "Brock (Stuart) - Modal Fictionalism: A Response to Rosen", 1993, Internal PDF Link
- "Butterfield (Jeremy) - Relationism and Possible Worlds", 1984, Internal PDF Link
- "Campbell (Douglas Ian) - The Eightfold Way: Why Analyticity, Apriority and Necessity are Independent", 2017, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 13%
- "Carter (William) - On Transworld Event Identity", 1979, No Abstract, Internal PDF Link
- "Cockburn (David) - Fatalism: thoughts about tomorrow’s sea battle", 2019, Internal PDF Link, Read = 7%
- "Dennett (Daniel) - Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking", 2014, Book, Read = 4%
- "Divers (John) - Possible-Worlds Semantics Without Possible Worlds: The Agnostic Approach", 2006, Internal PDF Link
- "Edgington (Dorothy) - Review: The Metaphysics of Modality by Graeme Forbes", 1988, Internal PDF Link, Read = 17%
- "Efird (David) & Stoneham (Tom) - Truthmakers and possible worlds", 2005, Internal PDF Link
- "Fine (Kit) - Essence and Modality", 2012, Internal PDF Link, Read = 17%
- "Funkhouser (Eric) - Notes on Fine, 'Essence and Modality'", 2014, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 33%
- "Funkhouser (Eric) - Notes on Plantinga, 'Modalities: Basic Concepts and Distinctions'", 2014, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 33%
- "Gallois (Andre) - Defending the Contingency of Identity", 1998
- "Garrett (Brian) - Identity and Extrinsicness", 1988, Internal PDF Link
- "Garson (James) - Modal Logic", 2000-9, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 3%
- "Gendler (Tamar Szabo) & Hawthorne (John) - Conceivability and Possibility", 2002, Book, Read = 1%
- "Gilead (Amihud) - How Many Pure Possibilities are There?", 2004, Internal PDF Link
- "Girle (Rod) - Modal Logics and Philosophy", 2000, Book, Read = 8%
- "Gupta (Anil) - The Logic of Common Nouns: Introduction", 1980, No Abstract
- "Hale (Bob) - Modal Fictionalism: A Simple Dilemma", 1995, Internal PDF Link, Read = 33%
- "Hale (Bob) - Modality", 1997
- "Hale (Bob) - The Basis of Necessity and Possibility", 2018, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 4%
- "Harrison (Jonathan) - The Impossibility of 'Possible' Worlds", 1999, No Abstract, Internal PDF Link
- "Hawley (Katherine) - Modality", 2001 / 2004
- "Heller (Mark) - The Immorality of Modal Realism, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let the Children Drown", 2003, Internal PDF Link
- "Hintikka (Jaakko) - Individuals, Possible Worlds, and Epistemic Logic", 1967, Internal PDF Link
- "Hoeffer (Carl) - On Lewis's Objective Chance: 'Humean Supervenience Debugged'", 1997, Internal PDF Link
- "Koslow (Arnold) - Laws and Possibilities", 2004, Internal PDF Link
- "Kripke (Saul) - Philosophical Troubles: Collected Papers, Volume 1", 2011, Book, Read = 2%
- "Kuczynski (John-Michael) - Outlining a Non-Possible-Worlds-Based Conception of Modality", 2005, Internal PDF Link
- "Leech (Jessica) - Essence and Mere Necessity", 2018, Internal PDF Link, Read = 5%
- "Leibowitz (Alex) - Notes on Plantinga, “Modalities: Basic Concepts and Distinctions”", 2007, No Abstract, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 33%
- "Lewis (David) - On the Plurality of Worlds", 1986, Book, Read = 3%
- "Loffler (Winfried) - Epistemically Relevant Possible Worlds", 2002, Internal PDF Link
- "Loux (Michael) - The Necessary and the Possible", 2002, Read = 6%
- "MacBride (Fraser) - Two Theories of Modality: A Reply to von Wachter", 2005, Internal PDF Link
- "MacBride (Fraser), Ed. - Identity and Modality", 2006, Book, Read = 5%, Footnote21
- "Madell (Geoffrey) - Persons and Possible Worlds", 1981
- "Marcus (Ruth Barcan) - Modalities : Philosophical Essays - Contents & Introduction", 1995, No Abstract
- "Marcus (Ruth Barcan) - Modalities and Intensional Languages", 1963, No Abstract, Internal PDF Link
- "Marcus (Ruth Barcan) - Modalities and Intensional Languages: Discussion", 1962, No Abstract
- "Marcus (Ruth Barcan) - Possibilia and Possible Worlds", 1986
- "Marcus (Ruth Barcan) - Smullyan on Modality and Description", 1948, No Abstract
- "Marshall (Dan) - A Puzzle for Modal Realism", 2016, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 10%
- "Mates (Benson) - Cross-World Identity", 1989
- "McDaniel (Kris) - Modal Realism with Overlap", 2004, Internal PDF Link
- "McGinn (Colin) - Necessity", 2000, Internal PDF Link
- "Melia (Joseph) - Modality", 2003, Book, Read = 1%
- "Menzies (Peter) & Pettit (Philip) - In Defence of Fictionalism about Possible Worlds", 1994, Internal PDF Link, Read = 22%
- "Merricks (Trenton) - The End of Counterpart Theory", 2003, Internal PDF Link
- "Miller (Kristie) - Defending Contingentism in Metaphysics", 2009, Internal PDF Link, Read = 4%
- "Moore (G.E.) - Necessity", 1900, No Abstract, Internal PDF Link, Read = 5%
- "Mumford (Stephen) - Miracles: metaphysics and modality", 2001, Internal PDF Link
- "O'Leary-Hawthorne (John) - The Epistemology of Possible Worlds", 1996, No Abstract, Internal PDF Link
- "Parsons (Josh) - Is everything a world?", 2007, Internal PDF Link
- "Parsons (Josh) - Might I Have Been Non-Actual", 2004, Internal PDF Link
- "Parsons (Josh) - Review of 'Possible Worlds', by John Divers", 2005, Internal PDF Link
- "Plantinga (Alvin) - Actualism and Possible Worlds", 1976, Internal PDF Link
- "Plantinga (Alvin) - De Re et De Dicto", 1969, Internal PDF Link
- "Plantinga (Alvin) - Modalities: Basic Concepts and Distinctions", 2012, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 67%
- "Plantinga (Alvin) - The Nature of Necessity", 1974, Book, Read = 5%
- "Plantinga (Alvin) - Transworld Depravity, Transworld Sanctity, and Uncooperative Essences", 2009, No Abstract, Internal PDF Link
- "Plantinga (Alvin) - Two Concepts of Modality: Modal Realism and Modal Reductionism", 1987, No Abstract, Internal PDF Link
- "Preti (Consuelo) - On Kripke", 2001, Book, Read = 2%
- "Prior (Arthur N.) - Diodoran Modalities", 1955, Internal PDF Link, Read = 44%
- "Putnam (Hilary) - It Ain't Necessarily So", 1962, Internal PDF Link
- "Quine (W.V.) - Reply to Professor Marcus", 1961, Internal PDF Link
- "Quine (W.V.) - Worlds Away", 1976, No Abstract, Internal PDF Link
- "Rosen (Gideon) - A Problem for Fictionalism about Possible Worlds", 1993, Internal PDF Link, Read = 22%
- "Rosen (Gideon) - Modal Fictionalism", 1990, Internal PDF Link, Read = 8%
- "Rosen (Gideon) - Modal Fictionalism Fixed", 1995, Internal PDF Link, Read = 33%
- "Salmon (Nathan) - An Empire of Thin Air: Review of David Lewis's 'On the Plurality of Worlds'", 2005, Internal PDF Link
- "Salmon (Nathan) - Impossible Worlds", 2005
- "Salmon (Nathan) - Modal Logic Kalish-and-Montague Style", 2005
- "Salmon (Nathan) - The Logic of What Might Have Been", 2005, Internal PDF Link
- "Schwartz (Stephen P.), Ed. - Naming, Necessity and Natural Kinds", 1977, Book, Read = 1%
- "Seddon (George) - Logical Possibility", 1972, Internal PDF Link
- "Sider (Ted) - Beyond the Humphrey Objection", 2006, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 3%
- "Sider (Ted) - Reductive Theories of Modality", 2003, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 38%
- "Sider (Ted) - Simply Possible", 2000, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 17%
- "Sider (Ted) - The Ersatz Pluriverse", 2002, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 7%
- "Smith (Quentin) - The Anthropic Principle And Many-Worlds Cosmologies", 1985, External Link, Internal PDF Link
- "Stalnaker (Robert) - The Interaction Of Modality with Quantification and Identity", 2003
- "Sturgeon (Scott) - Zombies and Ghosts", 2000, Read = 89%
- "Thau (Michael) - Undermining and Admissibility", 1994, No Abstract, Internal PDF Link
- "Turner (Jason) - Strong And Weak Possibility", 2005, Internal PDF Link
- "Van Inwagen (Peter) - Indexicality and Actuality", 1980, No Abstract, Internal PDF Link
- "Van Inwagen (Peter) - Modal Epistemology", 1998, Internal PDF Link
- "Van Inwagen (Peter) - Ontology, Identity and Modality: Essays in metaphysics", 2001, Book, Read = 17%, Note: Part III.
- "Van Inwagen (Peter) - What Does an Omniscient Being Know About the Future?", 2008, No Abstract, Internal PDF Link
- "Varzi (Achille) - Parts, Counterparts, and Modal Occurrents", 2001, Internal PDF Link
- "Von Wachter (Daniel) - The Ontological Turn Misunderstood: How to Misunderstand David Armstrong's Theory of Possibility", 2004, Internal PDF Link
- "Williamson (Timothy) - Armchair Philosophy, Metaphysical Modality and Counterfactual Thinking", 2005, Internal PDF Link
- "Williamson (Timothy) - Bare Possibilia", 1998, Internal PDF Link
- "Williamson (Timothy) - Philosophical Knowledge and Knowledge of Counterfactuals", 2007, Internal PDF Link
- "Williamson (Timothy) - Spaces of Possibility", 2018, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 7%
- "Williamson (Timothy) - Stalnaker on the Interaction of Modality with Quantification and Identity", 2006, External Link, Internal PDF Link
- "Woodward (Richard) - Is Modal Fictionalism Artificial", 2011, Internal PDF Link
- "Woodward (Richard) - Why Modal Fictionalism Is Not Self-Defeating", 2008, Internal PDF Link, Read = 20%
- "Yagisawa (Takashi) - A new argument against the existence requirement", 2005, Internal PDF Link
- "Yagisawa (Takashi) - Beyond Possible Worlds", 1988, Internal PDF Link
- "Yagisawa (Takashi) - Possible Worlds as Shifting Domains", 1992, Internal PDF Link
- "Yi (Byeong-Uk) - Is Mereology Ontologically Innocent?", 1999
- For further papers held on-line of potential interest, follow this Link22. Total papers = 6.
- For a list of Works that have been considered, but have missed the cut for inclusion in this Section of my Thesis, see the following:-
- Read: No items to list.
- Further Reading: No items to list.
- This is mostly a place-holder23.
In-Page Footnotes
Footnote 2:
- This is the write-up as it was when this Abstract was last output, with text as at the timestamp indicated (01/01/2026 17:28:19).
- Link to Latest Write-Up Note.
Footnote 21:
- Modality is important in my thesis, because modal questions come into persistence criteria.
- That said, the last two essays in the book – by Hossack and Olson – are the most important, though of these two only that by Hossack really belongs to this Chapter.
Text Colour Conventions (see disclaimer)
- Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2026