Counterfactuals and arbitrariness

• Autores: Moritz Schulz
• Localización: Mind, ISSN-e 1460-2113, Vol. 123, Nº. 492, 2014, págs. 1021-1055
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The pattern of credences we are inclined to assign to counterfactuals challenges standard accounts of counterfactuals. In response to this problem, the paper develops a semantics of counterfactuals in terms of the epsilon-operator. The proposed semantics stays close to the standard account: the epsilon-operator substitutes the universal quantifier present in standard semantics by arbitrarily binding the open world-variable. Various applications of the suggested semantics are explored including, in particular, an explanation of how the puzzling credences in counterfactuals come about.