Counterfactuals and Probability

di Moritz Schulz (Autore)

Oxford University Press, 2017

Moritz Schulz explores counterfactual thought and language: what would have happened if things had gone a different way. Counterfactual questions may concern large scale derivations (what would have happened if Nixon had launched a nuclear attack) or small scale evaluations of minor derivations (what would have happened if I had decided to join a different profession). A common impression, which receives a thorough defence in the book, is that oftentimes we find it impossible to know what would have happened. However, this does not mean that we are completely at a loss: we are typically capable of evaluating counterfactual questions probabilistically: we can say what would have been likely or unlikely to happen. Schulz describes these probabilistic ways of evaluating counterfactual questions and turns the data into a novel account of the workings of counterfactual thought.

• Autore: Moritz Schulz
• Editore: Oxford University Press
• Anno: 2017
• Rilegatura: Hardback
• Pagine: 248 p.
• Dimensioni: 223 x 152 mm
• Peso: 424 gr.
• EAN: 9780198785958

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