@misc{Lexicon of Arguments,
title = {Quotation from: Lexicon of Arguments – Concepts - Ed. Martin Schulz, 29 Mar 2024},
author = {Fraassen,Bas van},
subject = {Counterfactual Conditionals},
note = {I 13
Counterfactual conditional/Fraassen: objectively neither true nor false.
I 115f
Counterfactual conditionals/Fraassen: truth conditions use similarities between possible worlds: "If A, then B" is true in possible world w iff B is true in most similar world to w in which A is also true. - Similarity: is again context-dependent E.g. "Three Barbers"/Carroll: one in three must always be there:
1) if A is ill, B must accompany him, but
2) if C is gone as well, B has to stay there.
Contradiction: if A is ill, B must be there and gone.
VsCarroll: 1) and 2) are not in contradiction.
Material conditional: "either B or not A".
Solution/Fraassen: everyday language: not material conditional. >Everyday language.
Solution/Fraassen: Context Dependency: 1) is true if we only consider the illness, 2) is true if we only consider the shop - general: what situation is more like ours? -> Lewis: E. g. Bizet/Verdi, Similarity Metrics.
I 118
FraassenVsCounterfactual conditionals: but they are no solution here: scientific statements are not context-dependent. Therefore science implies no counterfactual conditionals (if they, as I believe, are context-dependent.
Counterfactual Conditionals/Laws of Nature/Reichenbach/E. Goodman: only laws, not general statements imply counterfactual conditionals. - Therefore they are a criterion for laws.
FraassenVsGoodman, E.: conversely: if laws imply counterfactual conditionals, it is because they are context-dependent. >Context.},
note = { Fr I B. van Fraassen The Scientific Image Oxford 1980
},
file = {http://philosophy-science-humanities-controversies.com/listview-details.php?id=239233}
url = {http://philosophy-science-humanities-controversies.com/listview-details.php?id=239233}
}