Best of all possible worlds

perfection of the world. It is impossible that the world could be created from nothing, since, according to Parmenides, “what is not” cannot exist. From this premise, he argues that since there is nothing that can be called what-is-not the world cannot have any deficiencies, since deficiency would imply the existence of “what-is-not. While this argument is logical, the next step he takes is less tenable. He argues next that human experience is completely wrong; that the world is changeless,…

and Unnatural Text Worlds in The Five People You Meet in Heaven’ In order to understand and conceptualise all language we encounter, we construct mental representations. These representations; known as text worlds, may be shaped differently depending on the individual, but are a part of how all linguistically adequate people process language. It is these text worlds and how humans make sense of them that is the underlying focus of what has been coined; Text World Theory. Text World Theory is a…

In the essay “Possible Worlds: Why do Children Pretend?” by Alison Gopnik she explains her theory of counterfactual thinking and the result of that being possible worlds. Gopnik suggests that counterfactuals are the possibilities of what could have occurred in life. These counterfactuals are the cause, and the effect is the creation of possible worlds. Gopnik defines possible worlds as “the productions of hope and imagination” (163). Possible worlds are seen as the result of a counterfactual;…

dependance between the first causal event and it’s consequence, rather merely a chain of counterfactual dependencies from the first event to the second, and then the second to the third. This can be continued with as many events as desired, so long as all of them from event one through to the final are distinct events, which are sequentially linked by counterfactual dependance. In our case of the trolley problem for example, we might not believe that there is counterfactual dependance between…

full control of the way we go about living our lives. The power that it withholds over us determines who our “friends” are, plans what we are doing for every moment of our day and also has consumed us with false visions of the way we perceive our world. In Malcolm Gladwell’s article, “Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted”, Gladwell discusses the negative side of pairing activism and social media together. Social media places activists in a negative light by their ability to hide…

‘Shakespeare travelled to Mars for Christmas’. While all the objects in the sentence are real, it is an untrue statement. As we draw these distinctions, one…

the problems of Modality and how Possible World Theory, and extended on to that Modal Realism, will be able to solve it. I will then move onto the weaknesses of Modal Realism, concentrating on the idea of the Incredulous Stare and then offering an alternative for this view making it a viable option to not believe in Modal Realism in Philosophy. First, before we discuss Modal Realism, we must first consider the problem…

years later, she portrays quite the opposite persona, going from Disney darling to outspoken, edgy it girl. Thesis (last sentence/ play around with this/ topic +claim + reasoning): Miley Cyrus elects to shed away from her Disney image and shows the world her true character and what she stands for. Change to more descriptive details as to how? Is this an argument? Miley Cyrus’s on screen life began at the ripe and vulnerable age of elven years old, ultimately…

pressures of trying to fit in with the ever-changing trends and fads within your peer group? These pressures can be difficult enough to handle just within a small group of friends or a community, let alone the magnifying glass of the entire country and world. Many celebrities and professional athletes are subject to these scenarios every day of their lives by having their every move watched and every word listened to by millions. The pressures felt by these men and women include more than…

the idea that the world…