Imaginability and Possibility

Studies in Logic, Vol. 12, No. 3 (2019): 102–114                    PII: 1674-3202(2019)-03-0102-13

Yingying Tang

Abstract. Recently there is a heated discussion on the puzzle of imaginative resistance, i.e. the puzzle of why it is difficult to imagine certain counterfactual scenarios. After examining Brian Weatherson’s “In-Virtue-Of Hypothesis”, I put forward an alternative hypothesis that all and only conceptual impossibilities are unimaginable. I argue that my account has some theoretical advantages over the In-Virtue-Of hypothesis. I consider some challenges to my hypothesis and then attempt to show that those objections are unsuccessful.