Strong Noncontingency: On the Modal Logics of an Operator Expressively Weaker Than Necessity

Abstract

Inspired by Hintikka's treatment of question embedding verbs in [8] and the variations of noncontingency operator, we propose a logic with strong noncontingency operator $\blacktriangle$ as the only primitive modality. A proposition is strongly noncontingent, if no matter whether it is true or false, it does it necessarily; otherwise, it is weakly contingent. This logic is not a normal modal logic, since $\blacktriangle(\phi\to\psi)\to(\blacktriangle\phi\to\blacktriangle\psi)$ is invalid. We compare the relative expressivity of this logic and other logics, such as standard modal logic, noncontingency logic, and logic of essence and accident, and investigate its frame definability. Apart from these results, we also propose a suitable notion of bisimulation for the logic of strong noncontingency, based on which we characterize this logic within modal logic and within first-order logic. We also axiomatize the logic of strong noncontingency over various frame classes. Our work is also related to the treatment of agreement operator in [10].