The Nature of Contingency

John Divers, Mind This is a thoroughly stimulating and clearly written work that argues for a genuinely big idea ... I am keen to make clear that I learned a great deal from this book, and that I found much in it to agree with and more to admire. The Nature of Contingency deserves to be read by researchers in the many fields that it covers and will -- I expect -- be widely appreciated for the imaginative and impressive work that it is.

Steven French, Metascience this is not only a rich and sophisticated work, but broad in its reach as well. And whether you agree with the Everett interpretation or not, or with Lewisian metaphysics, or not, Wilson's book actualises the possibility of a nuanced and erudite to-and-fro exchange between metaphysics and physics, to the benefit of both.

Samuel Kimpton-Nye, Philosophical Quarterly he Nature of Contingency is an important book. It elegantly precisifies the tantalising analogy between Lewisian modal realism and Everettian quantum mechanics and is an impressive showcase for naturalistic metaphysics.

Raoni Wohnrath Arroyo, Erkenntnis The Nature of Contingency is an invaluable source of how to properly do scientific metaphysics.

Alastair Wilson is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham and Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at Monash University. He was President of the Society for Metaphysics of Science in 2017-18, Honorary Secretary of the British Society for the Philosophy of Science in 2018-19, and is currently leading FraMEPhys, a five-year project on metaphysical explanation in physics funded by the European Research Council. He works in the emerging subfield of metaphysics of science, a branch of philosophy which draws on contemporary scientific discoveries to help answer ancient questions about the underlying nature of reality.

Introduction 1: Analyzing Modality 2: Diverging Everettian Quantum Mechanics 3: Emergent Chance 4: Laws of Nature 5: Indeterminacy 6: Anthropic Contingency Conclusion: An Expanding Reality