Santorio, P (2014) Filtering Semantics for Counterfactuals: Bridging Causal Models and Premise Semantics. In: Proceedings of SALT 24. 24th Semantics and Linguistic Theory (SALT) Conference, 30 May - 01 Jun 2014, New York University. Linguistic Society of America , pp. 494-513.
Abstract
I argue that classical counterfactual semantics in the style of Stalnaker, Lewis, and Kratzer validates an inference pattern that is disconfirmed in natural language. The solution is to alter the algorithm we use to handle inconsistency in premise sets: rather than checking all maximally consistent fragments of a premise sets, as in Krazter’s semantics, we selectively remove some of the premises. The proposed implementation starts from standard premise semantics and involves a new ‘filtering’ operation that achieves just this removal. The resulting semantics is interestingly related to the semantics for counterfactuals emerging from Judea Pearl’s causal models framework in computer science: in particular, filtering is a possible worlds semantics counterpart of Pearl’s interventions.
Metadata
Item Type: | Proceedings Paper |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Keywords: | Counterfactuals, premise semantics, causal models, Kratzer, Pearl |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science (Leeds) > School of Philosophy (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 28 Apr 2016 12:44 |
Last Modified: | 28 Jul 2016 01:50 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3765/salt.v24i0.2430 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Linguistic Society of America |
Identification Number: | 10.3765/salt.v24i0.2430 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:87500 |