WENCA: Tak to je vtipné, zrovna minulý týden jsem byl na konferenci (z teorie množin) a jeden večer v hospodě tam někdo zmínil tenhle článek
http://commonsenseatheism.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Sinhababu-Possible-Girls.pdf
Jmenuje se "Possible girls", vyšel v seriózním žurnálu Pacific Philosophical Quarterly. Velice doporučuju přečíst, zkopíruju sem abstrakt a první stránku a kousek:
Abstrakt:I argue that if David Lewis’ modal realism is true, modal realists from different
possible worlds can fall in love with each other. I offer a method for uniquely picking out
possible people who are in love with us and not with our counterparts. Impossible lovers and
trans-world love letters are considered. Anticipating objections, I argue that we can stand in the
right kinds of relations to merely possible people to be in love with them and that ending a transworld
relationship to start a relationship with an actual person isn’t cruel to one’s otherworldly
lover.
David Lewis famously holds that reality consists not only of our own universe, but of
countless other universes as real as our own. According to Lewis’ modal realism, every possible
way that a universe could be is instantiated by one of these ‘possible worlds.’ Lewis calls our
world the ‘actual world’, but ‘actual’ signifies only that it is the universe he happens to inhabit.
He regards ‘actual’ as an indexical like ‘I’ or ‘here’ – a resident of another world could use it to
refer to her world. ‘Possible’ indicates some world that the speaker might or might not inhabit.
The reason we never meet the residents of other worlds is that they’re as stuck in their worlds as
we are in ours. Their worlds and ours aren’t spatiotemporally or causally connected.
The ability to causally interact with your partner is important to many aspects of happy
romantic relationships, but not to all of them. It’s quite pleasant simply to know that your
partner loves you and appreciates being loved by you. A loving relationship with a faraway
person can enhance one’s self-esteem and turn loneliness into contentment. As a lonely
philosopher, I’ve come to wonder: If modal realism is true, can I have a loving relationship with
someone from another possible world?
This paper will try to answer that question. The answer, I think, is yes.
Given that every possible world is real, I shouldn’t feel lonely. There are many possible girls
out there in worlds where modal realism is widely accepted. Some of the girls are single, and are
pining for a boy in a world that isn’t their own. Some of them are pining for a boy who fits
exactly my description, down to the smallest detail. Some worlds hold legions of girls who
desire a boy from a world other than theirs, and who fits exactly my description.