Introduction Modal matters

Life is concerned not only with what is and how it is, but also with how things could or could not have been otherwise. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses what had been the main focus of attention: the nature of modality and other related phenomena, such as the existence of possible worlds, the semantics for counterfactual conditionals, whether individuals have essential properties, whether there is non-causal ontological dependence, and the overall interpretation of modal discourse, whether realistically or not. It addresses the applications of modality in science as well as in logic and mathematics. The book contains contributions providing some historical background, from ancient and medieval sources through to some major modern and contemporary contributions to the subject of modality. It focuses on whether modality is reducible to non-modal items.