more from Michael Potter

Single Idea 22281

[catalogued under 10. Modality / B. Possibility / 8. Conditionals / c. Truth-function conditionals]

Full Idea

What the material conditional most significantly fails to capture is counterfactual reasoning.

Gist of Idea

A material conditional cannot capture counterfactual reasoning

Source

Michael Potter (The Rise of Analytic Philosophy 1879-1930 [2020], 04 'Sem')

Book Reference

Potter,Michael: 'The Rise of Anaytic Philosophy 1879-1930' [Routledge 2020], p.34


A Reaction

The point is that counterfactuals say 'if P were the case (which it isn't), then Q'. But that means P is false, and in the material conditional everything follows from a falsehood. A reinterpretation of the conditional might embrace counterfactuals.