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Safety and the True–True Problem
Author(s) -
Cogburn Jon,
Roland Jeffrey W.
Publication year - 2013
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.1468-0114.2012.01454.x
Subject(s) - counterfactual conditional , counterfactual thinking , antecedent (behavioral psychology) , quantifier (linguistics) , semantics (computer science) , computer science , epistemology , mathematical economics , calculus (dental) , philosophy , psychology , mathematics , programming language , social psychology , medicine , dentistry
Standard accounts of semantics for counterfactuals confront the true–true problem : when the antecedent and consequent of a counterfactual are both actually true, the counterfactual is automatically true. This problem presents a challenge to safety‐based accounts of knowledge. In this paper, drawing on work by A ngelika K ratzer, A lan P enczek, and D uncan P ritchard, we propose a revised understanding of semantics for counterfactuals utilizing machinery from generalized quantifier theory which enables safety theorists to meet the challenge of the true–true problem.