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Outline of a New Semantics for Counterfactuals
Author(s) -
Gundersen Lars Bo
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
pacific philosophical quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.914
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1468-0114
pISSN - 0279-0750
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0114.2004.00184.x
Subject(s) - counterfactual conditional , possible world , semantics (computer science) , epistemology , core (optical fiber) , computer science , foundation (evidence) , linguistics , cognitive science , philosophy , programming language , counterfactual thinking , psychology , history , telecommunications , archaeology
It is argued that the so‐called principles of “strong centering” and “weak centering” central to the traditional Lewis‐Stalnaker semantics for counterfactuals are both fallacious. A foundation for an alternative semantics without these prinsciples is outlined. The core idea is that the statistically normal worlds – rather than those worlds most qualitatively similar to the actual world – should serve as the semantical fulcrum.