Counterfactuals
A conditional is a sentence, statement, proposition, or thought of the form
If A then C
"A" is called the antecedent of the conditional and "C" the consequent. Philosophers have traditionally divided conditionals into two main groups, indicative, which can be symbolized as [A→C], and subjunctive ([A□→C]). The so-called counterfactual conditionals that have been the subject of so much discussion in analytic philosophy are subjunctive conditionals of the form
If it were to be the case that X then it would be the case that Y (if X were to happen, then Y would happen)
and
If it had been the case that X, then it would have been the case that Y (if X had happened, then Y would have happened)
Subjunctive conditionals of the form "If she be gone, he is in despair" are not at issue.
It is because the antecedents of such subjunctive conditionals usually state something that is not in fact the case or "contrary-to-fact," or is at least assumed not to be the case by the thinker or utterer of the conditional, that they have come to be known as counterfactuals.
It is not clear that there is any interesting difference between present and future tense indicative and subjunctive conditionals.
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