Research Group
in Analytic Philosophy

Abstract

David Chalmers’ famous two-dimensional argument against materialism presupposes “Modal Monism,” i.e., that in analyzing both metaphysical necessity and apriority, we can make do with a single space of possible worlds. Chalmers suggests that a sentence S can be true at a single world W in two different ways: W considered as actual (“W verifies S”) and W considered as counterfactual (“W satisfies S”). He contends that this framework provides a unified analysis of the necessary a posteriori (and the contingent a priori). In the talk, I continue my critical examination of Chalmers’ framework. I raise some new worries concerning it. Particular attention is paid to different theories of reference and the relation of Chalmers' theory to them.