La logique contemporaine a connu de nombreux développements au cours de la seconde moitié du siècle dernier. Le plus sensationnel est celui de la logique modale et de sa sémantique des mondes possibles (SMP) dû à Saul Kripke dans les années soixante. Ces dans ce cadre que David Lewis exposera sa sémantique des contrefactuels (SCF). Celle-ci constitue une véritable excroissance de l’architecture kripkéenne. Mais sur quoi finalement repose l’architecture kripkéenne elle-même ? Il semble bien que la réponse soit celle d’une ontologie raffinée ultimement basée sur la notion de mondes possible. Ce mémoire comporte quatre objectifs. Dans un premier temps, nous allons étudier ce qui distingue les contrefactuels des autres conditionnels et faire un survol historique de la littérature concernant les contrefactuels et leur application dans différent champs du savoir comme la philosophie des sciences et l’informatique. Dans un deuxième temps, nous ferons un exposé systématique de la théorie de Lewis telle qu’elle est exposée dans son ouvrage Counterfactuals. Finalement, nous allons explorer la fondation métaphysique des mondes possible de David Lewis dans son conception de Réalisme Modal. / Modern logic since the end of the Second World War has undergone many developments. Two of the most interesting of these are the Kripkian Possible World Semantics and Lewis’ system of Counterfactuals. The first was developed by Saul Kripke in the 1960s and the second was developed by David Lewis in the 1970s. In some senses we can say that Lewis’ system of counterfactuals or Counter Factual Semantics (CFS) is built on top of the architecture which Kripke created with his Possible Worlds Semantics (PWS). But, what is the Kripkian Possible World Semantics itself built on? The answer it seems is very finely tuned ontology founded on the notion of possible worlds. This paper will attempt to do the following. First, attempt to draw a distinction between on the one hand conditionals and the other counterfactuals and at the same time attempt to look at some of the historical literature surrounding counterfactuals and their application in various fields like the philosophy of science. Second, recapitulate Lewis’ system of counterfactual semantics as developed primarily in Lewis’ book Counterfactuals. Finally this paper will attempt to explore the metaphysical foundations of the possible worlds account argued for by David Lewis in his conception of Modal Realism.

Robert Adams' definition of a possible world is paradoxical according to Selmer Bringsjord, Patrick Grim and, more recently, Cristopher Menzel. The proofs given by Bringsjord and Grim relied crucially on the Powerset Axiom; Christoper Menzel showed that, while this continued tobe the case, there was still hope for Adams' definition, but Menzel he undustedan old russellian paradox in order to prove that we could obtain the same paradoxical consequences without appealing to any other set theory than the Axiomof Separation. Nevertheless, Menzel's result only showed that there was no actualworld. In this paper we try to generalize Russell's paradox to arbitrary possible worlds without introducing an irreducible modal component in the discussion. / La definición de un mundo posible” de Robert Adams es paradójica, de acuerdo con Selmer Bringsjord, Patrick Grim y Cristopher Menzel. Las pruebas de Bringsjord y Grim utilizaban el axioma del Conjunto Potencia; Cristopher Menzel objetó que, mientras este fuese el caso, todavía existía esperanza para la definición de Adams, pero Menzel desempolvó una vieja paradoja de Russell para demostrar que podíamos obtener las mismas conclusiones sin apelar a otra teoría de conjuntos que el Axioma de Separación. Sin embargo, el resultado de Menzel mostraba solo que no existía el mundo actual. En este trabajo intentamos generalizar la paradoja de Russell a mundos posibles arbitrarios sin necesidad de introducir conceptos modales en la discusión.

The aim of this paper is to provide a formulation of the modal cosmological argument for the existence of a necessary entity, that is more resistant to criticism than those hitherto formulated. The conclusion is that there exists a necessary entity powerful enough to causally sustain the world. It has only two substantial premises, which are very innocuous. The argument requires no assumption that contingent entities must have a cause, or even that they normally have a cause, or the impossibility of infinite regresses, or any particular theory of time, and works irrespectively of which modal framework is accepted.

Scholars of Jewish literature consistently ask what it means to "write Jewishly". Strangers in a Strange Land posits that eight short works of Jewish fiction by authors in different times and places construct a consistent narrative realm of possibilities. I employ Possible Worlds literary theory to argue for this hypothesis. I argue that the narrative realm of these eight short stories is defined by liminal zones and liminal figures, marked most intensely by an implied porousness in the veil between the natural and the supernatural. My argument is based on a close analysis of major liminal themes: transit and wandering; dreamstates and visions; darkness and night; (un)death; and others. I contextualize these themes in two ways: first, by connecting them to the genres of Fantastic and Paranormal fiction in non-Jewish Western literature; and second, by bringing earlier Jewish tales into the discussion, illustrating that they have been and remain present in Jewish writing, in some cases as distant temporally as the Israelite literature of the Hebrew Bible. This panorama of ambiguous zones and characters unable to find steady footing would contribute to discussions of the nature of Jewish literature and its ability to create a virtual literary Home for a population that has been dispersed across the continents.

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[pt] Este trabalho investiga a história que Leibniz acrescenta à narrativa do humanista italiano Laurent Valla, transformando-a de uma anedota a respeito da liberdade humana diante presciência e vontade divinas em um estudo sobre a natureza da criação. Na história, os infinitos mundos possíveis são apresentados a Teodoro, em sonho, por Palas Atena, filha de Júpiter. O que ele vê pelos cômodos do palácio são infinitas histórias alternativas ao destino infeliz de Sexto Tarquínio, filho do último dos reis da monarquia romana. Esses mundos possíveis estão organizados em ordem decrescente de perfeição, sendo que o mais rico em variedade se encontra no alto da pirâmide, que é a forma geométrica a que Leibniz identifica o lugar em que Deus delibera sobre o melhor. Este trabalho percorre a estrutura da pirâmide para compreender o que Teodoro vê em cada cômodo e o que garante a própria divisória entre os cômodos. Nesse trajeto, verifica-se que um dos cálculos envolvidos na arquitetura da pirâmide é a dissemelhança entre a parte e o todo no melhor dos mundos. Sexto participa da variedade do mundo existente com seu infortúnio. No interior de um dos cômodos, Teodoro é introduzido aos problemas da análise infinita ao folhear o livro dos destinos. Por fim, este trabalho mostra que a natureza distópica da pirâmide não se restringe às histórias alternativas que Teodoro encontra em cada cômodo, mas há também outros mundos no interior do próprio mundo existente. O mundo mais perfeito se distingue por conter mais variedade que os demais, o que faz dele um mundo denso. É possível transitar pela densidade desse mundo através das distopias, ora entendidas como uma imitação da estrutura da lei do contínuo, ora consideradas como um suporte corporal que permite percorrer, alternadamente, os mundos fenomênicos. / [en] This thesis investigates the story that Leibniz adds to the narrative of the Italian humanist Laurent Valla, transforming it from an anecdote about human freedom in face of divine foreknowledge and will in a study about the nature of creation. In the story, the infinite possible worlds are presented to Theodorus in a dream by Pallas Athena, daughter of Jupiter. What he sees through the rooms of the palace are infinite alternative stories to the unfortunate fate of Sextus Tarquinius, son of the last king of the Roman monarchy. These possible worlds are organized in descending order of perfection, so that the richest in variety is at the top of the pyramid, which is the geometric form to which Leibniz identifies the place where God deliberates on the best. This work traverses the structure of the pyramid to understand what Theodore sees in each room and what ensures the very partition between the rooms. On this route, it is verified that one of the calculations involved in the architecture of the pyramid is the dissimilarity between the part and the whole in the best of the worlds. Sextus participates in the variety of the existing world with its misfortune. Inside one of the rooms, Theodorus is introduced to the problems of infinite analysis by leafing through the book of fates. Finally, this work shows that the dystopic nature of the pyramid is not restricted to the alternative stories that Theodorus finds in each room, but there are also other worlds within the existing world itself. The most perfect world stands out for containing more variety than the others, which makes it a dense world. It is possible to transit through the density of this world through dystopias, understood firstly as an imitation of the structure of the law of the continuum and, secondly, as a bodily support that allows one to traverse, alternately, the phenomenal worlds.

The representation of Chancery court in Charles Dickens’ Bleak House (1852-3) emphasises the inaccessibility of this institution to members of the laity. Dickens’ critique of Chancery chimes with Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological description of law as a formalistic social field defined by practices of exclusion. Dickens’ Chancery is however further inaccessible since it departs from Dickens’ laypeople’s horizons of expectation as a bureaucratic organisation characterised by its structural dispersion and the generation of great quantities of writing. This thesis therefore scrutinises Dickens’ treatment of Chancery in light of media-theoretical and geocritical, as well as sociological, frameworks and perspectives. This essay demonstrates that Dickens’ account of the institution of Chancery as conceptually inaccessible amounts to what I term a non-world heuristic. I contend that Dickens’ take on law anticipates what Fredric Jameson famously theorises as the dizzying “global world system” of late capitalism; the non-world heuristic of Bleak House—which combats disorientation in the social domain of law—may thus be understood as an early example of what Jameson terms an “aesthetic of cognitive mapping.” The non-world heuristic, this thesis proposes, likely has a role to play also in fictional attempts to cognitively map the global world system. I theorise the non-world heuristic in light of the discourse on accessibility in possible-worlds theory and the Kantian sublime, finding that the sublime non-world of Chancery is made accessible as inaccessible and that this dynamic is integral to Dickens’ aesthetic both as a maker of cognitive maps and as a realist novelist.

This thesis is a reflection from the cultural studies point of view of my personal volunteer experience in Ukraine. Its focus is to present practical use of anthropology or cultural studies knowledge in such field as volunteer or humanitarian work in a different culture. It suggests use of photography as a method of cognition of the environment. It presents an auto- photographic method as an alternative to a research using classical methods of visual anthropology. This thesis also presents two sets of photographs taken by children in a local orphanage which record their possible worlds. Key words: volunteering, auto-photography, visual anthropology, qualitative research, possible worlds

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A proposta desta pesquisa foi a de conhecer como o cotidiano de mulheres em situação de confinamento se (re)configura a partir da mediação da telenovela nesse novo ambiente de socialização. De que modo o ver telenovela nesse ambiente bem como suas memórias de recepção do gênero e sua matriz cultural articulam mundos possíveis na prisão. Busca, ainda, compreender como as memórias da telenovela se articulam às memórias pessoais e qual a importância dessa narrativa em seu dia a dia. A partir das proposições da “Metodologia dos mundos possíveis” de Luis Jesus Galindo Cáceres e das mediações de Jesus Martín-Barbero buscou-se compreender como a telenovela medeia seu cotidiano, como articula outros mundos que vão além dos limites impostos pelas grades e como estes mundos se relacionam com as temporalidades da prisão, bem como de suas memórias. Discute também como esse cotidiano medeia a relação com a telenovela, sobretudo a partir de suas memórias e relatos de vida, mas também da observação desse cotidiano e dos relatos sobre o momento vivido, de modo a correlacionar suas memórias (antes do ingresso na prisão) e as expectativas futuras. O estudo foi realizado no Presídio Regional de Itajaí, Santa Catarina, para o qual foram entrevistadas oito mulheres de diferentes faixas etárias, regimes e tempo de cumprimento de pena. A principal técnica adotada foi a história de vida em consonância com a proposição da metodologia dos mundos possíveis. Estes relatos foram tensionados na correlação entre memória, tempo presente e futuros contingentes e de que modo a telenovela participa desse processo de construção e reconstrução do cotidiano e de mundos possíveis. Os resultados apontam para uma “memória do melodrama” e um processo de construção de mundos possíveis a partir da identificação e projeção de suas trajetórias nas trajetórias das personagens da telenovela, sobretudo no que se refere às memórias e práticas relacionadas à família. / The purpose of this research was to know how the everyday of incarcerated women (re)configures itself from the telenovela mediation in this new environment of socialization. How the action of watching telenovelas in this environment and how their memories of reception of this genre and its cultural matrix articulates possible worlds in prison. Seeks to understand yet how the memories of the telenovelas articulate to the personal memories and which the importance of this narrative in their everyday lives is. From the propositions of the “Possible Worlds Methodology”, from Luis Jesus Galindo Cáceres, and Mediations Theory, from Jesus Martín-Barbero, seeks to understand how the telenovela mediates their daily routine, how it articulates others worlds beyond the limits imposed by the time slots and how these worlds relate to the temporalities of prison, and their memories. It also discusses how this everyday mediates the relationship with the telenovela, especially from the memories and life stories, but also from the observation of this everyday life and the stories about the moment lived, in order to correlate their memories (before being sent to prison) and the futures expectations. The research was done at Presídio Regional de Itajaí, Santa Catarina, for which eight women of different ages, regimes, and time of imprisonment were interviewed. The main technique adopted was the Life Story in line with the proposition of possible worlds methodology. These stories were tensioned in the correlation between memory, present time and future contingent and how the telenovela participates of the construction and reconstruction of the everyday life and possible worlds process. The results points to a “melodrama memory” and to a possible world construction process from the identification and projection of their trajectories in the characters’ trajectories in the telenovela, especially as regards to memories and related family practices.