A philosophical guide to conditionals

Bibliographic Information

A philosophical guide to conditionals

Jonathan Bennett

Clarendon Press , Oxford University Press, c2003

  • : pbk

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. [371]-379) and indexes

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Conditional sentences are among the most intriguing and puzzling features of language: analysis of their meaning and function has important implications for, and uses in, many areas of philosophy. Jonathan Bennett distils many years' work and teaching into this guide and authoritative treatment of the subject. The literature on conditionals is difficult - needlessly so, argues Bennett. He presents and evaluates in detail various approaches to the understanding of "indicative" conditionals (like "If Shakespeare didn't write Hamlet, some aristocrat did") and "subjunctive" conditionals (like "If rabbits had not been deliberately introduced into New Zealand, there would be none there today"); and he offers his own view.

Table of Contents

  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. The Material Condition: Grice
  • 3. The Material Condition: Jackson
  • 4. The Equation
  • 5. The Equation Attacked
  • 6. The Subjectivity of Indicative Conditionals
  • 7. Indicative Conditionals Lack Truth Values
  • 8. Uses of Indicative Conditionals
  • 9. The Logic of Indicative Conditionals
  • 10. Subjunctive Conditionals - First Steps
  • 11. The Competition for 'Closest'
  • 12. Unrolling from the Antecedent Time
  • 13. Forks
  • 14. Reflections on Legality
  • 15. Truth at the Actual World
  • 16. Subjunctive Conditionals and Probability
  • 17. 'Even If...'
  • 18. Backward Subjunctive Conditionals
  • 19. Subjunctive Conditionals and Time's Arrow
  • 20. Support Theories
  • 21. The Need for Worlds
  • 22. Relating the Two Kinds of Conditional
  • 23. Unifying the Two Kinds of Conditional
  • References
  • Index of Persons
  • Index of Topics

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Details

  • NCID
    BA64194148
  • ISBN
    • 0199258864
    • 9780199258871
  • LCCN
    2002042553
  • Country Code
    uk
  • Title Language Code
    eng
  • Text Language Code
    eng
  • Place of Publication
    Oxford,New York
  • Pages/Volumes
    xiii, 387 p.
  • Size
    24 cm
  • Classification
  • Subject Headings
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