Processes in the Interpretation of Generics and Cp-Laws

26 Pages Posted: 6 Feb 2008

Date Written: February 4, 2008

Abstract

Ceteris Paribus (cp-)laws may be said to hold only 'other things equal', signaling that their truth is compatible with a range of exceptions. Several theorists have taken this feature to introduce the presumption that cp-laws are trivial, one that needs to be countered if we are to appeal to cp-laws in the course of scientific investigation or our philosophical theorizing about it. I argue that the triviality worry is misplaced by pointing out that cp-laws are just a subset of uncontroversially meaningful and contingent expressions of natural language, the generics. I then present an account of these generics that elucidates some of their most puzzling features, especially the ones that suggested the triviality worry in the first place.

Keywords: cp-laws, generics, semantics, natural language

Suggested Citation

Nickel, Bernhard, Processes in the Interpretation of Generics and Cp-Laws (February 4, 2008). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1090099 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1090099

Bernhard Nickel (Contact Author)

Harvard University ( email )

1875 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

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