Full Idea
'Primary' truth-conditions tell us how the actual world has to be for an utterance of the statement to be true in that world; ....'secondary' truth-conditions give the truth-value in counterfactual worlds, given that the actual world turned out some way.
Gist of Idea
We have 'primary' truth-conditions for the actual world, and derived 'secondary' ones for counterfactual worlds
Source
David J.Chalmers (The Conscious Mind [1996], 1.2.4)
Book Reference
Chalmers,David J.: 'The Conscious Mind' [OUP 1997], p.63
A Reaction
This is the reinterpretation of the truth-conditions account in terms of two-dimensional semantics. My first reaction is not very positive. Why can't we fix our references in counterfactual worlds, and then apply them to the actual (like inventions)?
Related Ideas
Idea 13958 The 'primary intension' is non-empirical, and fixes extensions based on the actual-world reference [Chalmers]
Idea 13959 The 'secondary intension' is determined by rigidifying (as H2O) the 'water' picked out in the actual world [Chalmers]