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Lewis's Worldmate Relation and the Apparent Failure of Humean Supervenience

Darby, George (2009) Lewis's Worldmate Relation and the Apparent Failure of Humean Supervenience. Dialectica, 63 (2). pp. 195-204. ISSN 0012-2017. (doi:10.1111/j.1746-8361.2009.01192.x) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:31320)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-8361.2009.01192.x

Abstract

This paper considers two aspects of Lewis's metaphysics to which spatiotemporal relations appear central, with the aim of showing them to be less so. First, Lewis reluctantly characterises what it is for two things to be part of the same possible world in terms of an analogically spatiotemporal category of relations, rather than a wider natural external category. But Lewis's reason for restricting himself to the narrower category is unpersuasive. Second, Humean supervenience is formulated with spatiotemporal relations at its core. But that seems negotiable. A reason for caring about this is that quantum mechanics is supposed to threaten Lewis's metaphysics by introducing natural external relations that are not (even analogically) spatiotemporal, hence the interest in how central spatiotemporal relations really are.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1111/j.1746-8361.2009.01192.x
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General)
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Culture and Languages
Depositing User: Fiona Symes
Date Deposited: 05 Oct 2012 17:47 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:09 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/31320 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Darby, George.

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