Thursday, May 22, 2008

Bare Conditionals

It seems to me that the relationship between (1) and (2) might be analogous to the relationship between (3) and (4). Does this sound right to anyone?

1. Whenever I go to the store, I get milk.

2. I go to the store, I get milk.

3. All Cats are furry.

4. Cats are furry.

Of course, I don't know much about any of these kinds of sentences. But, if there is an analogous relationship, then we might be able to learn more about sentences like (2) by thinking about sentences like (4).

I guess I am slightly worried that (2) has no truth value. Since all the other sentences definitely have truth values, that would be a significant difference between the relationship between (1) and (2) and (3) and (4). But, my worry is not very strong since I do think that (2) has a truth value.

My own naive idea is that (3) and (4) are necessarily co-extensive in truth value. That makes me think that (1) and (2) are as well. But, like I said, I don't know much about this stuff.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Countercurrents

I have been thinking about certain temporal sentences like the following:

1. When I go to the store, I will get milk.

and

2. When I went to the store, I got milk.

I do not know anything about the literature on this topic (if there is any). So, what I am about to say might have been said by someone else or definitively disproven. If anyone has any information about the literature on this topic, I would be happy to hear it.

Here is an initial idea that seemed plausible to me:

3. Necessarily ((when I go to the store, I will get milk is true) iff (the
nearest future time during which I am going to the store is a time at which I get milk))

Unfortunately, there are several counterexamples to this suggestion. Here is one. Suppose I utter sentence (1) and then set out to get milk. One time during which I am going to the store is a time that ends the moment I step through the grocery store doors. But, that is not a time during which I get milk. However, if I get milk shortly after stepping through the door, then it seems spoke truly when I uttered (1).

Here are two modifications. The first is my lame suggestion and the second is Andrews more interesting suggestion:

4. Necessarily ((when I go to the store, I will get milk is true) iff (the
nearest future event during which I am go to the store is an event during which I get milk))

This might be subject to the same sorts of objections as (3). It all depends on what you think about events. Here is a variant of Andrew's suggestion:

5. Necessarily ((when I go to the store, I will get milk is true) iff (the
nearest future continuous time every subinterval of which is a time during which I am going to the store and no continuous superinterval of which includes more times during which I am going to the store is a time during which I get milk))

There are similar accounts of the (2) involving past times which I will not spell out here. What do you guys think of this suggestion? Are there any obvious counterexamples? I have had at least one person tell me that these accounts are too narrow because (1) is true if I get milk at any time in the future while I am going to the store. Does anyone else share that intuition about (1)?

UPDATE: Please note that I have revised (5) in my comments below and ignore the formulation in the post.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

'would'

The results of my test, collected from personal interviews and the last post, seem to suggest that the following is a correct way to report Fred's assertion:

"Fred, you said that when you went to the store, you would get milk."

This is exactly as I expected. But, now I am a bit puzzled. Why is it that the verb 'to be' is in the 'would' form in this sentence? Is there a connection between the use of 'would' in this sentence and the use of 'would' in typical counterfactuals? Is this a natural development and do other languages exhibit the same seemingly dual use of the word 'would'? If anyone knows anything that will help illuminate these issues, please feel free to post.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Test

Please read the passage and answer the question. Please have many other people do so as well. I'd like to see what many people have to say in response to this question. Thank you.


Fred is a very absentminded. He needs to be reminded of lots of things. But, when you remind him, you need to be very direct. One morning you and Fred find that there is no milk in the fridge. Fred says “When I go to the store, I’ll get milk”. Later that afternoon, Fred remembers to go to the store but forgets to buy milk. Remembering that Fred is very absentminded you decide to patiently remind him of what he said. What do you say to Fred? In the blank space below, please write down exactly what you say to Fred when you remind him of what he said.

You: _________________________.