‘Since’, ‘Even If’, ‘As If’

A persistent source of difficulty in analyzing conditionals lies in the fact that they are asserted against a variable background of knowledge which, even if it is not part of what is being asserted, is partially reflected in the grammatical form of the conditional itself. This paper will examine the difficulties arising from formalizing propositions (usually classified as conditionals in the literature on the subject) introduced in ordinary language by the locutions ‘since’, ‘even if’, ‘as if’. As will become clear, the problems posed in the formal analysis of these sentences depend to a great extent on the fact that it is difficult to distinguish what is being asserted with sentences in this form from what is presupposed by their use. The analysis which will be put forward for these conditionals in the following pages will in no way contradict the theory, well known before the sixties, that a conditional is true if and only if there is a certain connection between protasis [antecedent] and apodosis (consequent) such that the apodosis can be inferred from the protasis accompanied by a ceteris paribus clause. However, this theory will not be discussed here and will be taken for granted in the course of the paper.