Philosophy
Part 2 Philosophical Logic: Conditionals
This is the web page for the Philosophy Part 2 course Philosophical Logic: Conditionals given by Richard Holton at the University of Cambridge, Michaelmas term 2024. This page provides links to papers and other texts that may be useful and to pdf versions of the handouts. If you have suggestions or comments, please let me know by emailing me at rjh221@cam.ac.uk
This course is an introduction to theories of conditionals as these have been proposed within philosophy, logic and linguistics. The literature on conditionals is now enormous, with connections to many other philosophical topics. The best introduction (although a large one) is still Jonathan Bennett’s book:
- Jonathan Bennett, A Philosophical Guide to Conditionals (OUP, 2003)
Lectures
Lecture 1: Introduction, and Subjunctive Conditionals I
Primary
- Lewis, Counterfactuals
- Stalnaker ‘A Theory of Conditionals’
- ‘A Defense of Conditional Excluded Middle’
Secondary
- Bennett, Chs 10 - 21
Lecture 2: Subjunctive Conditionals II
Primary
- Lewis, Counterfactuals
- Lewis ‘Counterfactual Dependence and Time’s Arrow’
Secondary
- Kit Fine, ‘Counterfactuals Without Possible Worlds’, Journal of Philosophy 109, (2012)
Lecture 3: Indicative Conditionals I
Lecture 4: Indicative Conditionals II
Primary
- Kratzer, Angelika, ‘Conditionals’ in her Modals and Conditionals
- Rothschild, Daniel ‘Do Indicative Conditionals Express Propositions?’ Nous 2013
- Stalnaker, Robert, ‘Indicative Conditionals’ in Context and Content
- —— ‘Conditional Propositions and Conditional Assertion’ in Egan and Weatherson, Epistemic Modality
Secondary
- Egré, Paul, and Cozic, Mikaël, ‘If Clauses and Probability Operators’ ms
- Rothschild, Daniel, ‘Conditionals and Propositions in Semantics’ ms
- Rumfitt, Ian, ‘Old Adams Buried’