 According to Averroes, al-Ghazālī misreports the philosophers’ account of causal necessity in nature. Averroes also suggests that his own revised version of their account is true. While al-Ghazālī might accept the former claim, he would not accept the latter. This has to do with his understanding of the modalities. On his account of “necessary”, a connection between two things is not necessary if it is conceivable that it be severed (Kukkonen 2000; Dutton 2001). So, if it is conceivable that the cotton not burn, even though its contact with fire is unimpeded and it is dry, then it is not necessary that it burn, even when these conditions obtain. As we have seen, al-Ghazālī considers it conceivable that the cotton not burn, even when these conditions obtain. For he says that the connection between burning and contact with fire