Questions tagged [counterfactuals]
The counterfactuals tag has no usage guidance.
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Are humans still bipedal if a child is born without legs? [closed]
I am aware of a type philosophical argument that relies on a single counterexample to falsify an absolute statement:
All swans are white.
But here is a black swan. Your claim is false.
But I have ...
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Value from arbitrary restriction vs value from sharing
Let's take a simplifying example to illustrate two opposite worldviews:
Some people see value in intangible things when access to these things is restricted as if sharing was leading to a value loss: ...
- 241
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What is 'Ability to Do Otherwise'?
Many times in discussions elsewhere and in answers here, certain distinctions and claims hinge on Ability to Do Otherwise. However, whether those distinctions are meaningful or claims likely or able ...
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Lewis's truth condition for counterfactuals
According to SEP, Lewis's theory of counterfactual conditionals defines truth for counterfactuals as follows:
[...] the truth condition for the counterfactual “If A were (or had been)
the case, C ...
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Lewis's Counterfactual theory of conditionals
I'm starting to read Lewis' theory of counterfactuals. In his 1973 book, he specifies on page 10-11:
"The left-hand counterfactuls make trounle for the theory that the counterfactual is a strict ...
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According to utilitarianism, are the only moral actions the ones that maximize utility? What about actions that increase utility, but not maximally?
Whenever I look at a definition of utilitarianism, what I see is that it only seems to prescribe actions that maximize utility.
Suppose that, for a given junction, you have a set of possible actions ...
- 702
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Counterfactual truth condition
I've read somewhere that sentences of the form "If P were the case, then Q would be the case" should be interpreted in the following way (I write P>Q to abbreviate the counterfactual ...
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Why does Nozick rely on closest possible world in his tracking theory?
According to the truth-tracking theory of Nozick,
S knows that P iff
(1) P is True,
(2) S believes that P,
(3) If P were not True, S would not believe that P, and
(4) If P were True, S would believe ...
- 297
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Counterfactuals in Premises for Arguments
Can counterfactuals in premises make an argument sound and valid?
I understand that soundness requires both validity and true premises whilst validity requires the premises to follow to the conclusion....
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What is the theory of defining consciousness by the ability to use counterfactuals called?
I'm aware there are a number of ways of defining if something is conscious or sentient. Such as the ability to experience qualia, or the ability to be aware you're experiencing qualia. Another theory ...
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Does denying the Limit Assumption in counterfactual logic lead to contradiction?
According to the similarity semantics for counterfactuals, a counterfactual A > C is true iff on the most similar class of worlds to the actual world (or any given world the counterfactual's truth ...
