Suppose and Tell: The Semantics and Heuristics of Conditionals
 
Product details:

ISBN13:9780198860662
ISBN10:0198860668
Binding:Hardback
No. of pages:288 pages
Size:240x158x21 mm
Weight:1 g
Language:English
217
Category:

Suppose and Tell

The Semantics and Heuristics of Conditionals
 
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Date of Publication:
 
Normal price:

Publisher's listprice:
GBP 36.49
Estimated price in HUF:
17 624 HUF (16 785 HUF + 5% VAT)
Why estimated?
 
Your price:

14 099 (13 428 HUF + 5% VAT )
discount is: 20% (approx 3 525 HUF off)
Discount is valid until: 30 June 2024
The discount is only available for 'Alert of Favourite Topics' newsletter recipients.
Click here to subscribe.
 
Availability:

Estimated delivery time: In stock at the publisher, but not at Prospero's office. Delivery time approx. 3-5 weeks.
Not in stock at Prospero.
Can't you provide more accurate information?
 
  Piece(s)

 
Short description:

What does 'if' mean? Timothy Williamson presents a controversial new approach to understanding conditional thinking, which is central to human cognitive life. He argues that in using 'if' we rely on psychological heuristics, fast and frugal methods which can lead us to trust faulty data and prematurely reject simple theories.

Long description:
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.

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.
Table of Contents:
Preface
The Value of Conditionals
The Suppositional Rule
Consequences of the Suppositional Rule
Heuristics within Heuristics
Conditional Testimony
The Role of Conditional Propositionals
More Challenges
Interactions between Plain Conditionals and Quantifiers
Conditionals and Abduction
The Interaction of 'If' and 'Would': Semantics and Logic
The Interaction of 'If' and 'Would': Heuristics
Is 'Would' Hyperintensional?
More on the Interaction of 'Would' with Context
Thought Experiments and 'Would'
Worlds and Meaning
Conclusion: Semantics, Heuristics, Pragmatics