more on this theme     |     more from this text

Single Idea 12191

[filed under theme 10. Modality / B. Possibility / 9. Counterfactuals ]

Full Idea

Goodman's central idea was: 'If that match had been scratched, it would have lighted' is true if there are suitable truths from which, with the antecedent, the consequent can be inferred by means of a logical, or more typically natural, law.

Gist of Idea

Counterfactuals are true if logical or natural laws imply the consequence

Source

report of Nelson Goodman (The Problem of Counterfactual Conditionals [1947]) by Ian McFetridge - Logical Necessity: Some Issues §4

Book Ref

-: 'Aristotelian Society' [], p.151

A Reaction

Goodman then discusses the problem of identifying the natural laws, and identifying the suitable truths. I'm inclined to think counterfactuals are vaguer than that; they are plausible if coherent reasons can be offered for the inference.

Related Idea

Idea 8431 Problems with Goodman's view of counterfactuals led to a radical approach from Stalnaker and Lewis [Horwich]

The 30 ideas from Nelson Goodman

18749 Goodman argued that the confirmation relation can never be formalised [Goodman, by Horsten/Pettigrew]
17646 Goodman showed that every sound inductive argument has an unsound one of the same form [Goodman, by Putnam]
14292 Dispositions seem more ethereal than behaviour; a non-occult account of them would be nice [Goodman]
4794 We don't use laws to make predictions, we call things laws if we make predictions with them [Goodman]
12394 If the result is bad, we change the rule; if we like the rule, we reject the result [Goodman]
8113 Art is like understanding a natural language, and needs a grasp of a symbol system [Goodman, by Gardner]
20439 Artistic symbols are judged by the fruitfulness of their classifications [Goodman, by Giovannelli]
20438 A performance is only an instance of a work if there is not a single error [Goodman]
20437 A copy only becomes an 'instance' of an artwork if there is a system of notation [Goodman]
20440 Art is a referential activity, hence indefinable, but it has a set of symptoms [Goodman]
12191 Counterfactuals are true if logical or natural laws imply the consequence [Goodman, by McFetridge]
7956 If all and only red things were round things, we would need to specify the 'respect' of the resemblance [Goodman, by Macdonald,C]
7957 Without respects of resemblance, we would collect blue book, blue pen, red pen, red clock together [Goodman, by Macdonald,C]
9920 Two objects can apparently make up quite distinct arrangements in sets [Goodman, by Burgess/Rosen]
7952 If we apply the same word to different things, it is only because we are willing to do so [Goodman, by Macdonald,C]
15510 Classes are a host of ethereal, platonic, pseudo entities [Goodman]
10657 The counties of Utah, and the state, and its acres, are in no way different [Goodman]
17649 If the world is one it has many aspects, and if there are many worlds they will collect into one [Goodman]
17650 We lack frames of reference to transform physics, biology and psychology into one another [Goodman]
17651 Without words or other symbols, we have no world [Goodman]
17654 A world can be full of variety or not, depending on how we sort it [Goodman]
17653 Things can only be judged the 'same' by citing some respect of sameness [Goodman]
17655 Grue and green won't be in the same world, as that would block induction entirely [Goodman]
17656 Being primitive or prior always depends on a constructional system [Goodman]
17657 We build our world, and ignore anything that won't fit [Goodman]
17658 Users of digital thermometers recognise no temperatures in the gaps [Goodman]
17652 Truth is irrelevant if no statements are involved [Goodman]
17659 Reality is largely a matter of habit [Goodman]
17661 We don't recognise patterns - we invent them [Goodman]
17660 Discovery is often just finding a fit, like a jigsaw puzzle [Goodman]