What question did this study set out to answer?

This paper examines whether the ability to conceive something is a reliable indicator of its possibility.

March 1, 1993

Is Conceivability a Guide to Possibility?

Key Points

This paper examines whether the ability to conceive something is a reliable indicator of its possibility.
Philosophical analysis of historical and contemporary arguments regarding conceivability and possibility.
Discussion of key figures such as Descartes, Arnauld, Kripke, and Putnam.
Introduces the argument that conceivability may not always align with actuality.
Highlights the dilemma posed by necessary truths that can only be understood through experience.

Abstract

Doubts about a maxim like Hume’s have a variety of historical sources. Some date back as far as Descartes’s claim that, since he can conceive himself in a purely mental condition, his essence is only to think. “How does it follow,” Arnauld asks, “from the fact that he is aware of nothing else belonging to his essence, that nothing else does in fact belong to it?” Others are as recent as the discovery by Kripke and Putnam of necessary truths knowable only a posteriori: May 24, 2004 Is Conceivability a Guide to Possibility? S. Yablo

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