The Proof-Theoretic Structure of Counterfactual Inference

反事实条件句(即‘如果A是这样，那么B就是这样’形式的结构在普通的和科学的推理中是普遍存在的，它们对哲学具有核心的重要性。通常，它们的逻辑和语义是用模型论的方法来研究的，求助于可能世界模型，其中基于模型论分析的反事实逻辑通常是对经典逻辑的扩展。该项目的主要目标是为反事实的证明论语义的发展做出贡献，从直觉(或建设性)的角度来看，这是可以接受的。因此，该项目进入了一个几乎未被探索的研究领域。它将以一种关于反事实的证明论观点来阐述，从推理和证明的方法论至上开始。粗略地说，在这个角度上，反事实的含义是根据建设性的反事实推理的证明论结构来解释的，在适当的结构证明系统中，该结构指导我们从反事实A的前件到其后件B。该项目将在申请人在先前工作中发展的亚原子自然演绎框架的基础上继续进行。一个主要的要求是想要的证明论语义学是否适合分析自然语言中的反事实。

Counterfactual conditionals (i.e., constructions of the form 'if A were the case, then B would be the case') are ubiquitous in ordinary and scientific reasoning, and they are of central importance to philosophy. Typically, their logic and semantics is studied in terms of model-theoretic methods by appeal to possible worlds models, where the counterfactual logics based on the model-theoretic analyses usually extend classical logic. The main objective of the project is to contribute to the development of a proof-theoretic semantics for counterfactuals which is acceptable from an intuitionistic (or constructive) point of view. The project, thus, enters an almost unexplored area of research. It will be couched in a proof-theoretic perspective on counterfactuals which starts out from a methodological primacy of inference and proof. Roughly, on this perspective, the meaning of counterfactuals is explained in terms of the proof-theoretic structure of constructive counterfactual inferences which guide us, in a suitable structural proof system, from the antecedent of the counterfactual A to its consequent B. The project will be pursued building on the framework of subatomic natural deduction developed by the applicant in previous work. A main desideratum is the suitability of the intended proof-theoretic semantics for the analysis of counterfactuals in natural language.