The Dionysian

Does referring to something as being metaphysically possible mean the same thing as to say it is logically posssible?

ghiangelo

metaphysics isn't generally logical. to say that something is logically possible means that it's possiblities (varied states of potential exisences) are fundamentally circumscribed by the dictates of logic.

ghi

jpbrooks

Hello again, II posters.

I suppose from a "rationalistic"(?) standpoint, one could argue that our knowledge of the basic assumptions of logic were discovered by observing things in the world. Thus every logical inference carries with it the underlying assumption that whatever is logically possible is also possible in the world. (However, I'm somewhat suspicious of that kind of argumentation.)

Well, back to the textbooks.

Skepticos

From my armchair, I would say that the impossible entails the contradictory. Thus, "impossible" only applies to necessary propositions.

To say that a proposition is logically impossible is to say that it cannot possibly be true without entailing a contradiction. For example, the proposition "3 x 5 is equal to 20" is necessarily false; it is logically impossible for it to be true.

With this in mind, I would say that there is no such thing as a metaphysical impossibility (by "metaphysical" I assume we have moved into the realm of contingent propositons). The truth of the proposition "the sun will not rise tomorrow" is logically possible, even though it is contrary to our past experience.

- Skepticos

Keith Russell

Greetings:

Everything that is, is possible.

What is not, is not possible.

Keith.

Skepticos

Keith Russell writes:

"Everything that is, is possible. What is not, is not possible."

Does your statement have something to do with the law of identity? What is, is what it is; and cannot not be what it is?

- Skepticos