What 'must' and 'can' must and can mean

Linguistics and Philosophy 1 (3):337--355 (1977)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

In this paper I offer an account of the meaning of must and can within the framework of possible worlds semantics. The paper consists of two parts: the first argues for a relative concept of modality underlying modal words like must and can in natural language. I give preliminary definitions of the meaning of these words which are formulated in terms of logical consequence and compatibility, respectively. The second part discusses one kind of insufficiency in the meaning definitions given in the first part, which arise from the ex falso quodlibet paradox of logical consequence. In stepwise fashion, I make an attempt to avoid most of the consequences of this paradox for the meaning definitions of must and can.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 98,109

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
764 (#26,472)

6 months
59 (#91,341)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Angelika Kratzer
University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Citations of this work

Epistemic Modals.Seth Yalcin - 2007 - Mind 116 (464):983-1026.
Ought, Agents, and Actions.Mark Schroeder - 2011 - Philosophical Review 120 (1):1-41.
Modal science.Timothy Williamson - 2016 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy 46 (4-5):453-492.
Restrictions on Quantifier Domains.Kai von Fintel - 1994 - Dissertation, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Agents’ Abilities.Romy Jaster - 2020 - Berlin, New York: De Gruyter.

View all 348 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Counterfactuals.David K. Lewis - 1973 - Malden, Mass.: Blackwell.
Counterfactuals.David Lewis - 1973 - Foundations of Language 13 (1):145-151.
Counterfactuals.David Lewis - 1973 - Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie 36 (3):602-605.
The coherence theory of truth.Nicholas Rescher - 1973 - Oxford,: Clarendon Press.
Logics and Languages.M. J. Cresswell - 1973 - Synthese 40 (2):375-387.

View all 9 references / Add more references