Suppose and Tell: The Semantics and Heuristics of Conditionals

Author:   Timothy Williamson (University of Oxford)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
ISBN:  

9780198860662


Pages:   288
Publication Date:   02 July 2020
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   To order   Availability explained
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Suppose and Tell: The Semantics and Heuristics of Conditionals


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Overview

What does 'if' mean? It is one of the most commonly used words in the English language, in itself a sign to the importance of conditional thinking to human cognitive life. We make conditional statements, ask conditional questions, and issue conditional orders. We need to think and talk conditionally for many purposes, from everyday decision-making to mathematical proof. Yet the meaning of conditionals has been debated for thousands of years. Suppose and Tell brings together ideas from philosophy, linguistics, and psychology to present a controversial new approach to understanding conditionals. It argues that in using 'if' we rely on psychological heuristics, methods which are fast and frugal and mostly, but not always, reliable. As a result philosophers and linguists have been led astray in theorizing about conditionals through trusting faulty data generated by such methods and prematurely rejecting simple theories on the basis of merely apparent counterexamples. This book shows how one such simple theory of conditionals can explain the data, and draws wider implications for the nature of meaning and its non-transparency to native speakers, vagueness in thought and language, and the need for semantics to attend to the unreliable heuristics underlying our judgments.

Full Product Details

Author:   Timothy Williamson (University of Oxford)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.80cm , Height: 2.10cm , Length: 24.00cm
Weight:   0.562kg
ISBN:  

9780198860662


ISBN 10:   0198860668
Pages:   288
Publication Date:   02 July 2020
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order   Availability explained
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

Preface Part I: If 1: The Value of Conditionals 2: The Suppositional Rule 3: Consequences of the Suppositional Rule 4: Heuristics within Heuristics 5: Conditional Testimony 6: The Role of Conditional Propositionals 7: More Challenges 8: Interactions between Plain Conditionals and Quantifiers Part II: Would If 9: Conditionals and Abduction 10: The Interaction of 'If' and 'Would': Semantics and Logic 11: The Interaction of 'If' and 'Would': Heuristics 12: Is 'Would' Hyperintensional? 13: More on the Interaction of 'Would' with Context 14: Thought Experiments and 'Would' 15: Worlds and Meaning 16: Conclusion: Semantics, Heuristics, Pragmatics

Reviews

this is a powerful book, rich with ideas and sophisticated arguments . . . Philosophers and linguists interested in conditionals are encouraged—unconditionally—to form their own opinion about the arguments that this book provides; it is a rewarding read. * Malte Willer, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *


this is a powerful book, rich with ideas and sophisticated arguments . . . Philosophers and linguists interested in conditionals are encouraged-unconditionally-to form their own opinion about the arguments that this book provides; it is a rewarding read. * Malte Willer, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *


Author Information

Timothy Williamson is Wykeham Professor of Logic at the University of Oxford and Whitney Griswold Visiting Professor at Yale University. He has also taught at MIT, Princeton, Edinburgh, Trinity College Dublin, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and elsewhere. He works on logic, philosophy of language, epistemology, metaphysics, and metaphilosophy. His books include Doing Philosophy, Tetralogue, Modal Logic as Metaphysics, and The Philosophy of Philosophy. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Member of the Academia Europaea.

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