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The so-called "problem of theoretical terms" first formulated by Sneed (1971) arises from the interpretation of theoretical terms according to the Inherited Conception. This reading is not consistent with the indirect interpretation of theoretical terms made by Carnap (1937, 1939) using postulates. These texts propose a holistic interpretation of scientific theories, that can only be properly treated in possible-world semantics. Andreas (2008, 2010) provides a modal treatment of theoretical terms; we present these results in terms of Kripkean models; then extend them so as to distinguish between axioms and theoretical sentences, generating a model capable of treating them in a differentiated matter and offering new logical and philosophical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Barcan Formula and the postulation of possibilia contradict the pretheoretical intuitive judgments of most people, which favour actualism about possible worlds. In this paper I discuss and reject two arguments against such judgments, both of which conceive wrongly the relation between possible worlds semantics (PWS) and modal natural languages. The more important argument (advanced by Williamson) assumes that the domain of the actual world is identical to the domain of @ (the index that —in PWS— represents the actual world). I develop an interpretation of PWS which elucidates why that thesis is unwarranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]