Knowing necessary truths

Manuel Rebuschi

pp. 269-282

in: Juan Redmond, Olga Pombo Martins, Angel Fernández (eds), Epistemology, knowledge and the impact of interaction, Berlin, Springer, 2016

Abstract

How account for the intuitive difference between simply knowing a necessary proposition, and knowing that it is a necessary truth? In the paper it will be shown that two-dimensional semantics does not do the job in an adequate way. A solution is provided which is based on Hintikka's worldlines. Assuming a slight extension of the syntax, modal epistemic logic can thus deal with classical puzzles like knowledge of identities.