Philosophy:Conceptual necessity

From HandWiki
Revision as of 22:40, 26 June 2023 by Gametune (talk | contribs) (over-write)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

Conceptual necessity is a property of the certainty with which a state of affairs, as presented by a certain description, occurs: it occurs by conceptual necessity if and only if it occurs just by virtue of the meaning of the description. If someone is a bachelor, for instance, then he is bound to be unmarried by conceptual necessity, because the meaning of the word "bachelor" determines that he is. Alternatively, there is metaphysical necessity, which is a certainty determined, not by the meaning of a description, but instead by facts in the world described.

Historically, Baruch Spinoza was a subscriber to this belief.[1]

See also

References

  1. "Notes to Spinoza's Modal Metaphysics". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2013. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/spinoza-modal/notes.html. Retrieved May 9, 2014.