2018-19: Session 26

14 June 2019, 16:00
Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa
Sala Mattos Romão (Departamento de Filosofia)

Abstract: This talk addresses the question whether future contingents are knowable, that is, whether we can know that things will go a certain way even though it is possible that things will not go that way. First I will consider a long-established line of thought that implies a negative answer, and draw attention to some endemic problems that affect its credibility. Then I will sketch an alternative line of thought that prompts a positive answer. The idea that future contingents are knowable proves to be harmless, once its implications are properly spelled out.