Re: SUO: Re: 3D/4D question
Bill and Chris,
The possible worlds view of David L. isn't one that I would
recommend. As I've said in many previous notes, any modal or
intensional notions that can be expressed in a possible-worlds
model can be expressed in a much simpler, more natural way in
terms of laws and facts.
Furthermore, the laws and facts replace the mysterious notions of
"essentialism" with with explicit reasons, laws, or axioms. It also
eliminates the problems of transworld identity, since there is only
one world. You can, however, talk about different contexts, in
which individuals of the real world may be referenced along with
hypothetical or fictional individuals that only exist within a
particular context.
For details, see my context paper:
http://www.jfsowa.com/pubs/contexts.htm
This is the version that I recommend for handling modal and
intensional notions in both KIF and SUO.
John