Linguistic modal conventionalism in the real world
Date
2018
Authors
Due, Clare
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Abstract
This thesis examines the prospects for a theory of metaphysical
modality according to which modal truth is determined by
conventional rules governing the terms in a natural language. I
label this theory ‘linguistic modal conventionalism’, or
‘LMC’. My focus is on articulating and responding to a
specific objection to LMC: the objection that conventionalism
about the modal features of objects and propositions leads to
conventionalism about ordinary objects and non-modal truth.
The first part of the thesis sets out the theoretical background
for LMC by describing its empiricist and naturalistic
motivations, its historical background, and its modern variants.
I argue that modern versions of LMC are able to respond to the
Quinean and Kripean challenges that faced the theory’s
positivist predecessors. The middle part of the thesis is devoted
to describing the threat of object and truth conventionalism. I
argue that the tight connection between an object’s conditions
of existence and its modal properties means that conventionalism
about modal properties leads to conventionalism about objects
themselves. Similarly, the modal nature of a proposition’s
truth conditions means that conventionalism about modal features
of propositions leads to conventionalism about non-modal truth.
The final chapters of the thesis present a way for LMC to respond
to these threats. I argue that the theory should do away with the
problematic ontology by rejecting modal features of objects and
propositions, and providing truth conditions for modal sentences
in terms of linguistic rules directly. After describing the
metaphysics and semantics of this position, I conclude by
responding to a number of potential objections for LMC, and by
arguing that it satisfies the empiricist and naturalist
desiderata by which it is motivated.
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Thesis (PhD)
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