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A Purely Recombinatorial Puzzle
Author(s) -
Fritz Peter
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
noûs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.574
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1468-0068
pISSN - 0029-4624
DOI - 10.1111/nous.12172
Subject(s) - modal , modal logic , metaphysics , context (archaeology) , epistemology , computer science , order (exchange) , mathematical economics , philosophy , mathematics , cognitive science , psychology , economics , history , chemistry , archaeology , polymer chemistry , finance
A new puzzle of modal recombination is presented which relies purely on resources of first‐order modal logic. It shows that naive recombinatorial reasoning, which has previously been shown to be inconsistent with various assumptions concerning propositions, sets and classes, leads to inconsistency by itself. The context sensitivity of modal expressions is suggested as the source of the puzzle, and it is argued that it gives us reason to reconsider the assumption that the notion of metaphysical necessity is in good standing.