person1960s-present

Robert Stalnaker

Disciplines:

Summary

American philosopher who developed a possible worlds semantics for conditionals and a pragmatic theory of assertion based on common ground.

Core Contribution

Developed the selection function semantics for conditionals (a conditional is true iff its consequent is true in the closest world where its antecedent is true) and the notion of a context as a set of possible worlds representing common ground in discourse.

Key Spikes & Highlights

Defends two-dimensionalism in semantics but resists Chalmers' hard problem: the distinction between epistemic and metaphysical possibility doesn't require dualism about phenomenal properties.
Developed the notion of context as a set of possible worlds rather than a tuple of features, making the context of utterance itself a modal object.

Notable Works & Achievements

A Theory of Conditionals

Our Knowledge of the Internal World

Context and Content

Historical Influences

Saul Kripke David Lewis Gottlob Frege

Intellectual Lineage

Analytic Philosophy Possible Worlds Semantics Formal Pragmatics

Contemporaries & Peers

David Lewis David Kaplan Frank Jackson

Minds Influenced

David Chalmers Seth Yalcin Jonathan Schaffer

Intellectual Posterity

Context as Common Ground Conditional Semantics Pragmatic Presupposition

Discussing