[Revised entry by Antonella Mallozzi, Anand Vaidya, and Michael Wallner on July 7, 2023.
Changes to: Main text]
Actual facts are facts about how things are. For example, Mary actually wore her white dress to the party. Modal facts, by contrast, are facts about how things could, must, or could not have been. For example, Mary could have worn her red dress; but she couldn’t have worn a dress that is red and green all over at the same time. Modal reasoning is central to human cognition, since it is pervasive both in philosophy and in every-day contexts. It involves investigating and evaluating…
Originally appeared on Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Read More
