Necessity by Accident [Special Issue]
Issue: Issue 14 • Author/s: Nathan Wildman
Topics: Epistemology, Metaphysics, Modal Logic, Ontology
General consensus has it that contingencies lack the requisite modal umph to serve as explanations for the modal status of necessities. The central aim of this paper is to show that this received opinion is incorrect: contingent necessity-makers are in fact possible. To do so, I identify certain conditions the satisfaction of which entail the possibility of contingent necessity-makers. I then argue for two broad instances where these conditions are satisfied. Consequently, the associated necessities in fact have contingent necessity-makers.