2023/03/21 by Peter Fritz, P. Fritz · 1 citation
Computer Science · Psychology · #Logic, Reasoning, and Knowledge #Philosophy and Theoretical Science #Logic, programming, and type systems
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mind/fzac052
Abstract Contingentists—who hold that it is contingent what there is—are divided on the claim that having a property or standing in a relation requires being something. This claim can be formulated as a natural schematic principle of higher-order modal logic. On this formulation, I argue that contingentists who are also higher-order contingentists—and so hold that it is contingent what propositions, properties and relations there are—should reject the claim. Moreover, I argue that given higher-order contingentism, having a property or standing in a relation does not even require possibly being something.