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Rabern’s Semantics for Metaphysical and Epistemic Modalities and the Nesting Problem

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Abstract

In a recent paper, Brian Rabern suggests a semantics for languages with two kinds of modality, standard Kripkean metaphysical modality as well as epistemic modality. This semantics presents an alternative to two-dimensionalism, which was developed in the last decades. Both Rabern’s semantics and two-dimensionalism are subject to a puzzle that Chalmers and Rabern (Analysis, 74(2), 210–224 2014) call the nesting problem. I will investigate how Rabern’s semantics answers this puzzle.

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Acknowledgements

I thank Brian Rabern for his helpful suggestions on former versions of this text as well as his encouragement and advice in publishing it. The material of this talk was presented in a talk in Göttingen and I thank the audience, especially Dolf Rami, for their comments.

Furthermore, I thank two anonymous reviewers for this journal, as well as Kai Wehmeier as the editor, for their very helpful and detailed comments.

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  1. Philosophisches Seminar der Universität Göttingen, Humboldtallee 19, 37073, Göttingen, Germany

    Fabian Heimann

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  1. Fabian Heimann
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Correspondence to Fabian Heimann.

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Heimann, F. Rabern’s Semantics for Metaphysical and Epistemic Modalities and the Nesting Problem. J Philos Logic 49, 497–507 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10992-019-09527-7

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