# Computer Science and Metaphysics: A Cross-Fertilization

## TL;DR

This paper explores how computational techniques can advance metaphysical research, revealing new insights and demonstrating benefits for both philosophy and computer science through computer-assisted modal metaphysics.

## Contribution

It develops new results in modal metaphysics using computer-assisted methods and discusses their broader implications for philosophy and computer science.

## Key findings

- Development of computer-assisted modal metaphysics results
- Demonstration of computational techniques benefiting philosophy
- Potential broader applications of these techniques in computer science

## Abstract

Computational philosophy is the use of mechanized computational techniques to unearth philosophical insights that are either difficult or impossible to find using traditional philosophical methods. Computational metaphysics is computational philosophy with a focus on metaphysics. In this paper, we (a) develop results in modal metaphysics whose discovery was computer assisted, and (b) conclude that these results work not only to the obvious benefit of philosophy but also, less obviously, to the benefit of computer science, since the new computational techniques that led to these results may be more broadly applicable within computer science. The paper includes a description of our background methodology and how it evolved, and a discussion of our new results.