The Question of Counterpossibles

This chapter aims to justify the importance of the semantics of counterpossibles. This is done by explaining why conditionals are an inherent aspect of our intellectual life, and how counterpossibles are related to that fact. The chapter explains why the problem of conditionals is a subject of interest to philosophers, psychologists, and linguists. Further (Sect. 1.2), it provides a description of counterfactuals as a particular type of conditional, along with properties that allow them to be contrasted with indicative conditionals. Finally (Sect. 1.3), the question of counterpossibles is introduced. The chapter closes with a general characterization of a variety of approaches to the analysis of conditionals and justifies narrowing the number of approaches that are included in this monograph (Sect. 1.4).