Conditional sentences and semantic bipartition: a synthetic-pragmatic proposition

Abstract

Traditional approaches to the formalization of the semantic structure of the conditional sentences assume that the semantics of counterfactual conditional sentences is fundamentally different from other types of conditionals. Recently, however, this division has been criticized. Santos says that the traditional distinction, which he calls the theory of apartheid, is not tenable. We argue that Santos’s criticism does not invalidate this distinction, because this criticism applies only to a specific class of conditional sentences. We argue further that the semantic distinction between indicative and counterfactual conditionals- can be maintained, but it has to be complemented by certain syntactic-prag- matic criteria of classification.