The Modal Future
The Modal Future
It is commonly assumed that we conceive of the past and the future as symmetrical. In this book, Fabrizio Cariani develops a new theory of future-directed discourse and thought that shows that our linguistic and philosophical conceptions of the past and future are, in fact, fundamentally different. Future thought and talk, Cariani suggests, are best understood in terms of a systematic analogy with counterfactual thought and talk, and are not just mirror images of the past. Cariani makes this case by developing detailed formal semantic theories as well as by advancing less technical views about the nature of future-directed judgment and prediction. His book addresses in a thought-provoking way several important debates in contemporary philosophy, and his synthesis of parallel threads of research will benefit scholars in the philosophy of language, metaphysics, epistemology, linguistics and cognitive science.
- Provides examples of inter-disciplinary work at the boundary between linguistics and philosophy
- Develops and defends a novel account of the way we think and talk about the future
- Suitable for researchers interested in the philosophy of language, epistemology, linguistics and cognitive science
Reviews & endorsements
The Modal Future succeeds in both being rigorous and highly readable. Cariani employs a careful methodology, drawing distinctions between various issues and theses that are oftentimes conflated or overlooked in the literature. The rich argumentation adeptly integrates insights from linguistics, metaphysics, and epistemology, making substantial contributions to recent debates concerning the open future, assertion, prediction, foreknowledge, and also providing a novel and attractive account of the semantics of future discourse. Stephan Torre, University of Aberdeen
Product details
No date availablePaperback
9781108465472
318 pages
228 × 151 × 17 mm
0.47kg
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Part I. Background:
- 1. The symmetric paradigm
- 2. Symmetric semantics in an asymmetric world
- Part II. The Road to Selection Semantics:
- 3. The modal challenge
- 4. Modality without quantification
- 5. Basic selection semantics
- Part III. Developing Selection Semantics:
- 6. Between will and might
- 7. Future orientation
- 8. Neo-Stalnakerian conditionals
- Part IV. Assertion, Prediction, and the Future:
- 9. On predicting
- 10. Assertion troubles
- 11. Thin red lines without tears
- Part V. Future Cognition and Epistemology: Some Themes:
- 12. Imagining and simulating the future
- 13. On the direct evidence inference.
