Conditionals

the long version

Conditionals has at its centre an extended essay on this problematic and much-debated subject in the philosophy of language and logic, which the widely respected Oxford philosopher Michael Woods had been preparing for publication at the time of his death in 1993. Woods discusses the distinctions between different kinds of conditionals, and then goes on to cover a range of topics, including assertibility, conditional probability, possible-worlds theories, and conditional commands and questions. He ends by sketching a new theory of counterfactual conditionals. This essay is edited for publication by Woods's friend and colleague David Wiggins, and accompanied by a commentary specially written by a leading expert on the topic Dorothy Edgington.