A Copernican Revolution for Modal Fictionalism

Charles B. Cross (University of Georgia) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (20 June, 2012) titled "A Copernican Revolution for Modal Fictionalism". Abstract: According to Modal Fictionalism, the analysans in the possible-worlds analysis of a modal claim should be understood as occurring within the scope of a (normally untokened) story operator or prefix. Placing a piece of discourse behind a story prefix, on this view, cancels any commitment to the existence of items postulated by the "story". Modal Fictionalism faces persistent objections, however, and I argue that the best option in the face of these objections is a revolutionary reformulation. Given this reformulation, the usual objections to Modal Fictionalism simply vanish.