Whether-conditionals

• Autores: Theodore Korzukhin
• Localización: Philosophical Studies, ISSN-e 1573-0883, Vol. 173, Nº. 3, 2016, págs. 609-628
• Idioma: alemán
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• Resumen

  • In this paper I look at indicative nested whether-conditionals, sentences like:

    If I pass the exam, I will pass whether I pray or not.

    The behavior of ‘if’ in these examples is to be contrasted with the behavior of ‘if’ in or-to-if conditionals:

    If Mary is at home or at work, then if she is not at home, she is at work.

    I argue that no currently available semantics for indicative conditionals can explain both the behavior of ‘if’ in nested whether-conditionals and the behavior of ‘if’ in or-to-ifs. We need a theory that predicts both. While no currently available theory makes the right predictions, one theory comes close—Heim’s rendition of Stalnaker’s semantics (Heim in J Semant 9(3):183–221, 1992). I show how to fix Heim’s view to get the right results for all cases. In sum, the paper argues for a particular development of Stalnaker’s semantics, and shows that whether-conditionals cannot be dealt with on other approaches.