Philosophy & What Matters. Ep. 1: Counterfactuals with Alan Hajek (ANU)
Channel: Jeremiah Joven Joaquin
Date: 2020-07-13

"Philosophy & What Matters" deals with questions that matter to us from a philosophical point of view.

You would have been vacationing right now had it not been for the pandemic. I would have been doing something as well had it not been for the current strict lockdowns. But what does this mean? What does it mean when we imagine a what-if scenario? In entertaining what-if scenarios, we are engaging in what philosophers have called counterfactual thinking. 

In today’s Philosophy and What Matters, Professor Alan Hájek of the Australian National University will introduce us to the philosophy of counterfactuals and why it matters. In particular, he will introduce us to two theories of the nature of counterfactuals: viz., Robert Stalnaker's, and David Lewis's. He will also show us why he thinks that most counterfactuals are false.

The "Philosophy & What Matters" website can be found here: https://sites.google.com/site/jeremiahjovenjoaquin/philosophy-what-matters.