more from Charles Sanders Peirce

Single Idea 19232

[catalogued under 10. Modality / B. Possibility / 8. Conditionals / e. Supposition conditionals]

Full Idea

In our ordinary use of language we always understand the range of possibility in such a sense that in some possible case the antecedent shall be true.

Gist of Idea

In ordinary language a conditional statement assumes that the antecedent is true

Source

Charles Sanders Peirce (Reasoning and the Logic of Things [1898], II)

Book Reference

Peirce,Charles Sanders: 'Reasoning and the Logic of Things', ed/tr. Ketner,K.L. [Harvard 1992], p.126


A Reaction

Peirce is discussing Diodorus, and proposes the view nowadays defended by Edgington, though in the end Peirce defends the standard material conditional as simpler. I suspect that this discussion by Peirce is not well known.