ABSTRACT

One approach to specifying the meaning of pieces of languages is to treat those meanings as constructions out of possible worlds and possible objects. This technique is useful both in logic and in providing the semantics of natural languages. After introducing possible worlds semantics, this chapter will outline some of the applications that have convinced many philosophers and linguists of the usefulness of this framework, and will conclude with a discussion of one of the most conspicuous limitations of the framework, and some ways this limitation has been dealt with.