On March 7, we will have a LIRa session with Karolina Krzyżanowska.
Everyone is cordially invited!
Speaker: Karolina Krzyżanowska, (University of Groningen)
Title: Conditionals and inferences
Date and Time: Thursday, March 7, 2013, 15:30-17:30
Venue: Science Park 107 (NEW ILLC LOCATION), Room F1.15
Abstract: A speaker who asserts a conditional typically seems to suggest the existence of a link between that conditional’s antecedent and its consequent. The aim of this talk is to provide both theoretical and empirical support for the claim that, at least for a large class of indicative conditionals, this link is inferential in nature, although it does not always have to be of one and the same type. Acknowledging the traditional distinction between deductive, inductive, and abductive reasoning can be a departure point for revisiting some old philosophical issues concerning interpretation of conditional sentences. It can help to explain, for instance, why seemingly contradictory conditionals can both be true, or why some of them constitute a bad advice.