What Is Possibility? Do Things That Never Happen Still Matter?

Possibility means that something has not happened or does not actually exist, but could happen, could exist, or can be meaningfully conceived under certain conditions.

Possibility matters because human thought does not face only what is actual. It also asks what could have been. Choice, planning, scientific hypotheses, and moral responsibility all require possibility. A simple example is a career choice. You become one kind of person, but other possible lives still shape how you understand your actual life. Philosophy asks whether possibility is merely language and imagination, or whether it has some objective status. Modern technology constantly expands possibility, making previously unimaginable things feasible while also creating new risks. Possibility reminds us that actuality is not the only measure of reality.


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Roadly Philosophy

Roadly Philosophy

Explore philosophy through play with Roadly Philosophy, the iPhone game I created.

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