counterpart theory
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.67 in modern English
27
Scrabble Score
17
Letters
5
Syllables
11
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An alternative to standard possible worlds semantics in which an individual can exist in only one world, while other possible worlds contain (different) counterparts to that individual, and in which the modality operators (necessity, possibility) are replaced by quantifiers over possible worlds.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "If counterpart theory calls for the rejection of some popular modal principles, that needn't worry us. But if it forces us to reject principles of the logic of identity and quantification, that is more serious."
- "According to counterpart theory, Humphrey himself has the modal property, might have won the election, in virtue of his counterpart having the (non-modal) property, won the election."