Visiting speaker seminar

Speaker: Sonia Roca-Royes (Stirling)

Title: Rethinking the epistemology of modality for abstracta

Abstract: The paper is an exploration of the sort of epistemology available to explain our de re modal knowledge about abstract entities. The thesis suggested—in a first approximation to the issue—is somehow provocative: as modal epistemologists, we don’t have much work to do here; instead, the work is down to ontologists. The paper first motivates the thesis by relying on a conception of abstract objects that makes the thesis a rather plausible one. It then considers some potential concerns and concludes that, while their treatment imposes some refinements and qualifications, the thesis stands.