University of Gothenburg
Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Science
This paper is concerned with Sir Peter Strawson’s critical discussion of Paul Grice’s defence of the material implication analysis of conditionals. It argues that although Strawson’s own ‘consequentialist’ suggestion concerning the... more
The overall strategy of Lycan’s paper is to distinguish three kinds of conditional assertion theories, and then to show, in order, how they are variously afflicted by a set of problems. The three kinds of theory were the Quine-Rhinelander... more
Despite recent efforts to improve on counterfactual theories of causation, failures to explain how effects depend on their causes are still manifest in a variety of cases. In particular, theories that do a decent job explaining cases of... more
Modal inquiry is plagued by methodological problems. The best-developed views on modal semantics and modal ontology take modal statements to be true in virtue of relations between possible worlds. Unfortunately, such views turn modal... more
Emotivists hold that moral opinions are wishes and desires, and that the function of moral language is to “express” such states. But if moral opinions were but wishes or desires, why would we see certain opinions as inconsistent with, or... more
Argues that emotivism is compatible with cases where we seem to lack motivation to act according to our moral opinions.
In this paper, we do three things. First, we put forth a novel hypothesis about judgments of moral responsibility according to which such judgments are a species of explanatory judgments. Second, we argue that this hypothesis explains... more
Analytic introduction and critical discussion.
The title is the thesis of this paper.
This paper introduces a new family of cases where agents are jointly morally responsible for outcomes over which they have no individual control, a family that resists standard ways of understanding outcome responsibility. First, the... more
""Presents a strategy for specifying attitudes constitutive of moral judgments within non-cognitivist or sentimentalist frameworks and a particular analysis of judgments of moral wrongness. Argues that non-cognitivists are better placed... more
Many philosophers think that moral objectivism is supported by stable features of moral discourse and thinking. When engaged in moral reasoning and discourse, people behave ‘as if’ objectivism were correct, and the seemingly most... more
It is generally agreed that constructions of the form “if P, Q” are capable of conveying a number of different relations between antecedent and consequent, with pragmatics playing a central role in determining these relations. Controversy... more