Conditionals [Paperback]

Conditionalshas at its center 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. It appears here edited by his eminent colleague David Wiggins, and is accompanied by a commentary specially written by a leading expert on the topic, Dorothy Edgington. This masterly and original treatment of conditionals will demand the attention of all philosophers working in this area.

David Wiggins. Foreword
Michael Woods. Conditionals
The Varieties of Conditional
Theories of Simple Conditionals
Ramsey's Test and Adam's Hypothesis
Simple Conditionals and Truth-Values: Some Proposals
Conditionals and Possible Worlds
Compound Conditionals and Truth-Values
A Theory of Simple Conditionals
Sketch of a Theory of Counterfactual Conditionals
Dorothy Edgington.Commentary
Taxonomy
Assertibility
Ramsey and Adams
Truth Values
Possible Worlds
Compounds
Other Conditional Speech Acts
Non-Simple Conditionals
List of Works Cited
Michael Woods 1934--1993: Obituary and Curriculum Vitae
Index

This is a clear and thought-provoking essay that succeeds in pulling together many distinct issues concerning the interpretation of conditionals. It thus serves well both as an introduction to the difficult issues it treats, and as an interesting polemic in its own right. --MathematicalReviews

This is a very interesting investigation of natural language conditionals. Woods displays both a remarkably sensitive insight into examples of usage and an excellent grasp of the relevant literature. --Bulletin of Symbolic Logic