The Nature of Necessity

by Alvin Plantinga

Book Overview

This book, one of the first full-length studies of the modalities to emerge from the debate to which Saul Kripke, David Lewis, Ruth Marcus, and others are contributing, is an exploration and defense of the notion of modality de re, the idea that objects have both essential and accidental properties. Plantinga develops his argument by means of the notion of possible worlds and ranges over such key problems as the nature of essence, transworld identity,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0198244142
• ISBN13: 9780198244141
• Release Date: March 1979
• Publisher: Clarendon Press
• Length: 266 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

valuable and not at all wrong, but importantly incomplete

Plantinga's aim at the outset of this book is to defend the notion of de re (of objects) necessity against those (most notably Quine) who contend that all necessity is de dicto (of words). His strategy is not unlike that of his apologetics-style work in philosophy of religion such as _Warranted Christian Belief_ (25 years later!) in that he takes the more limited tack of meeting opposing arguments rather than positively establishing his own considered position. As in _WCB_, in _NN_ it is the de jure question of "is this not on all fours" rather than the de facto "is it true". In the matter of Christian faith, this is a more or less fruitful and appropriate _philosophical_ route to take (since the de facto question in this case would be one that properly goes beyond human reason and philosophy), but in the case of this book it makes for an incomplete study, to my mind, of a topic that is philosophically important through-and-through. Plantinga gives no clue as to how we would actually _find out_ what the essential and what the accidental properties of a thing are, and the ongoing implicit assumption at work seems to be that our untutored intuitions are entirely reliable in this capacity. Plantinga's own approach does nothing to stave off any suspicions that his own procedure for picking out some properties as essential and other as accidental is any less "invidious" than Quine thought. For example, the favored example of an accidental property is Socrates as "snubnosed," but how is this to be played out? Assuming Socrates' snubnosedness is hereditary and not the result of an unfortunate encounter with a wall, it must be taken to be possible that Socrates' genetic makeup be different than it was. If that is granted (instead of saying, as I would, that counterfactual genetic difference in Socrates would have made for a person other than Socrates himself), then there's no bar to almost any feature of Socrates one would care to name coming out accidental, except the stipulation that he be "Socrates" (the referent of the proper name, in actual fact). Indeed, Plantinga actually takes seriously and even countenances the possibility of a reptilian Socrates! (Presumably, Plantinga would take the "conceivability" of Socrates as an alligator to be an argument for dualism--to anyone who thinks that, I direct you straight to Mark Johnston's "Human Beings"--but I'm getting off topic.) That said, there is a lot of valuable work done here on the structure of modality de dicto and de re, from Plantinga's "kernel function" of expressing de re modal ascriptions in terms of the de dicto, through the nature of essence, worlds, "books," and so forth. One interesting quirk is that Plantinga seems to think the accessibility relation has some heuristic value for describing epistemic relations, but has no objective reality. This is a bit contentious, really, and he does not acknowledge other views on the subject. For that matter, this book is not at all a treatise on mod

An enduring classic

Plantinga's Nature of Necessity is a philosophical masterpiece. Although there are a number of good books in analytic philosophy dealing with modality (the concepts of necessity and possibility), this one is of sufficient clarity and breadth that even non-philosophers will benefit from it. Modal logic may seem like a fairly arcane subject to outsiders, but this book exhibits both its intrinsic interest and its general importance. If you think there are good and bad arguments, conclusions that follow from some premises but not others, then you ought to be concerned with modal logic. If you're interested in the problem of evil and the ontological argument for the existence of God, you should read this book. The Nature of Necessity has the added virtue that it maps most peoples' modal intuitions quite well (unlike some modal theories). Perhaps it is for this reason that certain philosophers treat the book a bit snippishly. I've read the book a half a dozen times; and I'll probably read it a few more times before it's all said and done.

The classic work on the metaphysics of modality.

Perhaps Peter van Inwagen put it best when he called this book a "treasure trove." Plantinga's _The Nature of Necessity_ contains deep and sophisticated work on some of most important and interesting issues in metaphysics: de re modality, the nature of essences and possible worlds, nonexistent objects, and the Ontological Argument. As far as this reviewer is concerned, Plantinga's work stands as one of the greatest works of metaphysics of *all time*. I cannot recommend it highly enough

Excellent application of Modal Logic to traditional problems

Plantinga always amazes me with both the subtlety and clarity of his thought. His application of abstract logical theory to traditional philisophical problems is inspired and inspiring, opening up some new avenues of thought in places we believed too travel-worn to bother with

A modern classic by an exceptionally gifted philosopher.

Alvin Plantinga employs Quantified Modal Logic to provide insights into the Ontological Argument, the Problem of Evil and other problems in contemporary philosophical theology. A difficult book, but written with enormous clarity, power and wit. This is one of the best books I've ever read on any subject whatever