A graded semantics for counterfactuals

0545760 - ÚI 2022 RIV NL eng J - Článek v odborném periodiku
Běhounek, L. - Majer, Ondrej
A graded semantics for counterfactuals.
Synthese. Roč. 199, 5-6 (2021), s. 11963-11994. ISSN 0039-7857. E-ISSN 1573-0964
Grant CEP: GA ČR(CZ) GA18-00113S
Institucionální podpora: RVO:67985807
Klíčová slova: Counterfactual conditional * Lewis semantics * Robustness * Limit Assumption * Łukasiewicz logic
Obor OECD: Philosophy, History and Philosophy of science and technology
Impakt faktor: 1.595, rok: 2021
Způsob publikování: Omezený přístup
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11229-021-03320-3

This article presents an extension of Lewis’ analysis of counterfactuals to a graded framework. Unlike standard graded approaches, which use the probabilistic framework, we employ that of many-valued logics. Our principal goal is to provide an adequate analysis of the main background notion of Lewis’ approach—the one of the similarity of possible worlds. We discuss the requirements imposed on the analysis of counterfactuals by the imprecise character of similarity and concentrate in particular on robustness, i.e., the requirement that small changes in the similarity relation should not significantly change the truth value of the counterfactual in question. Our second motivation is related to the logical analysis of natural language: analyzing counterfactuals in the framework of many-valued logics allows us to extend the analysis to counterfactuals that include vague statements. Unlike previous proposals of this kind in the literature, our approach makes it possible to apply gradedness at various levels of the analysis and hence provide a more detailed account of the phenomenon of vagueness in the context of counterfactuals. Finally, our framework admits a novel way of avoiding the Limit Assumption, keeping the core of Lewis’ truth condition for counterfactuals unchanged.
Trvalý link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0322423