The World Is a Necessary Being

Abstract

A standard conception of metaphysical modality accepts that (i) Some de re modal claims are true, (ii) These should be understood in terms of a possible worlds semantics, and (iii) There is trans-world identity. For instance, it seems true that Humphrey could have won the election. In possible worlds speak, we say that there exists a possible world where Humphrey wins the election. Furthermore (given trans-world identity), had that possibility been actualized instead of this one, Humphrey—our Humphrey, the very same man—would still have existed. Here, I argue that this way of understanding de re modal claims, in conjunction with certain other plausible assumptions, entails that The World (i.e., the enormous object which has both you and I as proper parts) is a necessary being.