Drawing together a series of essays on possibility, necessity, and tense, this book covers areas, such as: the possible-worlds analysis of counterfactuals; the compatibility of special relativity with presentism; and the nature of first-personal experience. It also argues for the existence of distinctive forms of natural and normative necessity.

Since the 1970s Kit Fine has been one of the leading contributors to work at the intersection of logic and metaphysics. This is his eagerly-awaited first book in the area. It draws together a series of essays, three of them previously unpublished, on possibility, necessity, and tense. These puzzling aspects of the way the world is have been the focus of considerable philosophical attention in recent decades. A helpful introduction orients the reader and offers a way into some of the most original work in contemporary philosophy.