Clare Due (ANU): How to be a modal conventionalist and an object realist [Thesis Proposal Review]
Modal conventionalists hold that metaphysical modality is grounded in human linguistic conventions. One issue facing this view is that it struggles to account for de re modality. For example, the fact that I am such that I could have been a carpenter seems independent of convention. Alan Sidelle argues that in light of de re modality, modal conventionalists must give up on the convention independence of objects. I argue contra Sidelle that being a modal conventionalist and an object realist is coherent. In particular, the modal conventionalist should reject ‘metaphysical’ de re modality, but maintain a de re / de dicto distinction when it comes to the logical form of modal sentences.
Location
Sir Roland Wilson Theatrette 2.02