For scientific essentialists, the only logical possibilities of existence are the real (or metaphysical) ones, and such possibilities, they say, are relative to worlds. They are not a priori, and they cannot just be invented. Rather, they are discoverable only by the a posteriori methods of science. There are, however, many philosophers who think that real possibilities are knowable a priori, or
... [Show full abstract] that they can just be invented. Marc Lange [Lange 20043.
Lange , Marc . 2004. A Note on Scientific Essentialism, Laws of Nature, and Counterfactual Conditionals. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 82: 227–41. [Taylor & Francis Online]View all references] thinks that they can be invented, and tries to use his inventions to argue that the essentialist theory of counterfactual conditionals developed in Scientific Essentialism [Ellis 20012.
Ellis BD 2001 Scientific Essentialism Cambridge: Cambridge University Press View all references, hereafter SE] is flawed.
