Conceptual necessity is a property of the certainty with which a state of affairs, as presented by a certain description, occurs:[1] it occurs by conceptual necessity if and only if it occurs just by virtue of the meaning of the description. If someone is abachelor, for instance, then he is bound to be unmarried by conceptual necessity, because the meaning of the word "bachelor" determines that he is.
Alternatively, there ismetaphysical necessity, which is a certainty determined, not by the meaning of a description, but instead by facts in the world described.
Historically,Baruch Spinoza was a subscriber to this belief.[2]
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