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Full Idea
It is often necessary to suppose (or assume) that some epistemic possibility is true, and to consider what else would be the case, or would be likely to be the case, given this supposition. The conditional expresses the outcome of such thought processes.
Gist of Idea
Conditionals express what would be the outcome, given some supposition
Source
Dorothy Edgington (Do Conditionals Have Truth Conditions? [1986], 1)
Book Ref
'A Philosophical Companion to First-Order Logic', ed/tr. Hughes,R.I.G. [Hackett 1993], p.29
A Reaction
This is the basic Edgington view. It seems to involve an active thought process, and imagination, rather than being the static semantic relations offered by possible worlds analyses. True conditionals state relationships in the world.
| 19232 | In ordinary language a conditional statement assumes that the antecedent is true [Peirce] |
| 14279 | Asking 'If p, will q?' when p is uncertain, then first add p hypothetically to your knowledge [Ramsey] |
| 22432 | Normally conditionals have no truth value; it is the consequent which has a conditional truth value [Quine] |
| 15722 | Conditionals are pointless if the truth value of the antecedent is known [Quine] |
| 14282 | On the supposition view, believe if A,B to the extent that A&B is nearly as likely as A [Edgington] |
| 13854 | Conditionals express what would be the outcome, given some supposition [Edgington] |