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The term possible world is retained even by those who attach no metaphysical significance to them. In the field of database theory, possible worlds are also a notion used in the setting of uncertain databases and probabilistic databases, which serve as a succinct representation of a large number of possible worlds. [2]
Possible worlds, according to Leibniz's theory, are combinations of beings which are possible together, that is, compossible. [ 6 ] A being is possible , for Leibniz, when it is logically possible , i.e., when its definition involves no contradiction. [ 7 ]
The term goes back to Leibniz's theory of possible worlds, [2] used to analyse necessity, possibility, and similar modal notions.In short, the actual world is regarded as merely one among an infinite set of logically possible worlds, some "nearer" to the actual world and some more remote.
In the most common interpretation of modal logic, one considers "logically possible worlds". If a statement is true in all possible worlds, then it is a necessary truth. If a statement happens to be true in our world, but is not true in all possible worlds, then it is a contingent truth.
Along with Saul Kripke, David Lewis, and Alvin Plantinga, Stalnaker has been one of the most influential theorists exploring philosophical aspects of possible world semantics. According to his view of possible worlds, they are ways this world could have been, which in turn are maximal properties that this world could have had.
If possible worlds help with counterfactuals, they will help with causation. Closeness of worlds can help spell out what it means for a false theory of nature to be close to the truth. Idealizations such as the ideally rational belief system are "among the theoretical benefits to be found in the paradise of possibilia."
Modal fictionalism is a term used in philosophy, and more specifically in the metaphysics of modality, to describe the position that holds that modality can be analysed in terms of a fiction about possible worlds. The theory comes in two versions: Strong and Timid. Both positions were first exposed by Gideon Rosen starting from 1990. [1]
Similar to the ideas explained with possible worlds theory, this strategy employs the view that logical principles and the law of contradiction have limits, but without assuming that everything is true.