In its essence, this book is a suggestion to introduce certain systematic distinctions into modal philosophical discourse, nothing more. These distinctions are drawn from an analytical observation of our everyday use of language. They may be helpful for understanding this use of language. Once these distinctions have been adequately defined, they may also help in developing philosophical theory, in that their colloquial use may be translated into philosophical use, and thus may further diversify our options for theory design. Specifically, I hope that modal ontology may profit from the observations I make, but this remains to be seen.
In fact, I came upon the idea of modal pragmatics while working on a much more comprehensive and ambitious project about an ontology of happenstance. However, the proposal of modal pragmatics is completely independent of this further project, and I will not go into the latter in this book.
Being nothing more than a proposal, this text is directed not at a broader audience, but at researchers and advanced students in the field of modal theory. Its aim is not to instruct, but to contribute to a debate – or more precisely, to open a new field of discussion within the ongoing broader philosophical debate on modality. Because of this characteristic of my text, I have tried to keep it as succinct as possible and have made very few references to other authors. This book is not a grand, comprehensive opus, but rather an essayistic suggestion to do something new.
I thank Guido Imaguire for his many, very helpful criticisms and suggestions, and I thank John Horden for his excellent copy editing.