Angelika Kratzer

Angelika Kratzer, University of Massachussetts, Amherst
17. Mai 2018, 16:30-18:30 Uhr  3D NIG 3.Stock

WKAP-Vortrag Angelika Kratzer

WKAP-Vortrag Angelika Kratzer

What’s an epistemic modal?

Abstract: Epistemic modals like English “might” have a special place in contemporary philosophy. They seem to give rise to distinctive puzzles and are therefore considered to be “semantically distinctive in ways that set them apart from other modals in significant respects” (Yalcin 2016). In this talk, which reports joint ongoing work with Jonathan Phillips (Harvard University), we use a detailed case study of English “might” versus “could” to argue for a unified semantics for epistemic and non-epistemic modals that projects modal domains from pieces of reality in a completely uniform way.