Possibility, Actuality, and Determinacy

Abstract

This paper expounds A. G. Baumgarten's innovative account of contingent existents. It will be shown that Baumgarten's contribution consists in accounting for the difference between merely possible and actual beings in terms of determinacy. The resulting account is attractive: it does not require a distinct property that sets actual beings apart, and it provides a promising metaphysical backdrop for explaining thought about possibilia.