Bob Pasnau (University of Colorado)

Medieval Modal Spaces

The Aristotelian conception of modality tended, for much of its history, to be founded mainly on what happens in the actual world, leaving little room for unactualized possibilities. Beginning in the later Middle Ages, however, particularly in the work of John Duns Scotus, a much more expansive conception of modality appears, tied to Scotus’s libertarian conception of freedom. Here I look at how Scotus and others attempted to create more conceptual space for nonactual possibilities, with regard to the necessity of the past, the present, and the future.

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