Philosophical Guide To Conditionals

Conditional sentences are among the most intriguing and puzzling features of language: analysis of their meaning and function has important implications for, and uses in, many areas of philosophy. Jonathan Bennett distils many years' work and teaching into this guide and authoritative treatment of the subject. The literature on conditionals is difficult - needlessly so, argues Bennett. He presents and evaluates in detail various approaches to the understanding of indicative conditionals (like If Shakespeare didn't write Hamlet, some aristocrat did ) and subjunctive conditionals (like If rabbits had not been deliberately introduced into New Zealand, there would be none there today ); and he offers his own view.