Counterfactuals
A presentation of and sustained argument for a particular view about propositions which express contrary-to-fact conditionals, including the author's infamous defense of realism about possible worlds.
pages cm
9780631224952, 9780631224259, 0631224955, 0631224254
222806338
Preface. Acknowledgements. 1. An Analysis of Counterfactuals. Introduction. Strict Conditionals. Variably Strict Conditionals. The Limit Assumption. 'Might' Counterfactuals and Outer Modalities. Impossible Antecedents. True Antecedents. Counterfactual Fallacies. Potentialities. 2. Reformulations. Multiple Modalities. Propositional Quantifiers. Comparative Similarity. Similarity Measures. Comparative Possibility. Cotenability. Selection Functions. The Selection Operator. 3. Comparisons. The Metalinguistic Theory: Implicit Premisis. The Metalinguistic Theory: Factual Premises. The Metalinguistic Theory: Laws of Nature. Stalnaker's Theory. 4. Foundations. Possible Worlds. Similarity. 5. Analogies. Conditional Obligation. 'When Next' and 'When Last'. Contextually Definite Descriptions. 6. Logics. Completeness Results. Decidability Results. Derived Modal Logics. Appendix: Related Writings by David Lewis. Index.
Originally published: 1973