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Raidl, Eric ; Rott, Hans

Towards a logic for ‘because’

Raidl, Eric and Rott, Hans (2023) Towards a logic for ‘because’. Philosophical Studies.

Date of publication of this fulltext: 26 Jul 2023 05:20
Article
DOI to cite this document: 10.5283/epub.54522


Abstract

This paper explores the connective ‘because’, based on the idea that ‘C because A’ implies the acceptance/truth of the antecedent A as well as of the consequent C, and additionally that the antecedent makes a difference for the consequent. To capture this idea of difference-making a ‘relevantized’ version of the Ramsey Test for conditionals is employed that takes the antecedent to be relevant to ...

This paper explores the connective ‘because’, based on the idea that ‘C because A’ implies the acceptance/truth of the antecedent A as well as of the consequent C, and additionally that the antecedent makes a difference for the consequent. To capture this idea of difference-making a ‘relevantized’ version of the Ramsey Test for conditionals is employed that takes the antecedent to be relevant to the consequent in the following sense: a conditional is true/accepted in a state σ just in case (i) the consequent is true/accepted when σ is revised by the antecedent and (ii) the consequent fails to be true/accepted when σ is revised by the antecedent’s negation. To extend this to a semantics for ‘because’, we add that (iii) the antecedent and (iv) the consequent are accepted/true in the state σ. We get metaphysical or doxastic interpretations of these clauses, depending on what we mean by a model and a state. We introduce several semantics known from suppositional conditionals, which we reinterpret for difference-making conditionals and ‘because’. We present a minimal logic for ‘because’ sentences and show how it can be extended in ways that parallel the hierarchy of extensions of the logic of suppositional conditionals. We establish correspondence results between axioms for ‘because’ and properties of states, and prove that the specified logics are sound with respect to the semantics.



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Details

Item typeArticle
Journal or Publication TitlePhilosophical Studies
Publisher:Springer
Date17 July 2023
InstitutionsPhilosophy, Art History, History, and Humanities > Institut für Philosophie > Lehrstuhl für Theoretische Philosophie (Prof. Dr. phil Hans Rott)
Identification Number
ValueType
10.1007/s11098-023-01998-4DOI
Keywordsbecause · conditionals · conditional logic · difference-making · relevance · explanation · reason · defined conditionals
Dewey Decimal Classification100 Philosophy & psychology > 100 Philosophy
StatusPublished
RefereedYes, this version has been refereed
Created at the University of RegensburgPartially
URN of the UB Regensburgurn:nbn:de:bvb:355-epub-545223
Item ID54522

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