Conditionals and Truth Values

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to determine what problems arise when trying to formalize "if" using compositional semantics, and whether the word 'if' can be formalized in a satisfactory manner at all in this way. To determine the answer to this question, a comparison will be made between two approaches on conditionals: The work by Robert Stalnaker, which relies on possible world semantics to define the truth conditions of 'if', and an epistemic theory of conditionals developed by Peter Gärdenfors, which defines conditionals in terms of acceptance rather than truth.