Matt Mandelkern
Fall 2024, Thursdays, 1:15-3:15, NYU
What does it mean to say S is able to φ? We will explore this issue from both the point of view of the philosophy of language, where it raises interesting issues in modal semantics, and philosophy of action, where it has been a central part of traditional questions about human action and agency.
Schedule:
September 5: The existential analysis and some puzzles
Kenny, Human abilities and dynamic modalities; Kratzer, What 'Must' and 'Can' must and can mean; Hackl, On the semantics of "ability attributions"
Handout
September 12: Modally complex analyses
The mixed modal analysis: Brown, On the logic of ability
Conditional analyses: Thomason, Ability, action and context; Honoré, Can and Can't; Austin, Ifs and Cans; Mandelkern, Schultheis, and Boylan, Agentive modals
Handout
September 19: No class (Matt away)
September 26: Language models and abilities
Guest speaker: Jacqueline Harding, Harding and Sharadin, What is it for a Machine Learning Model to Have a Capability?
October 3: More on conditional analyses
Handout
October 10: Ability vs. Control
Boylan, Does Success entail Ability?; Santorio, Ability as dependence modality, Kikkert, Ability's two dimensions of robustness; Loets and Zakkou, Agentive Duality Reconsidered
Handout
October 17: Ability and probability
Mandelkern, Chance, ability and control,
Handout
October 24: Ability and determinism
Lewis, Are we free to break the laws?; Lewis, Counterfactual dependence and time's arrow, Dorr, Against counterfactual miracles; Holguin and Teitel, On the plurality of counterfactuals; Albritton, Freedom of will and freedom of action; Setiya, Freedom and the will;
Handout
October 31: Ability and dispositions
Vetter, Are abilities dispositions?; Fara, Masked ability and compatibilism; Vihvelin, Free Will Demystified: A Dispositional Account
Handout
November 7: Inexact ability
Guest speaker: Annina Loets, Inexact Ability
November 14: Actuality entailments
Guest speaker: David Boylan on Ability and Actuality (joint work with Ginger Schultheis).
Fall 2024, Thursdays, 1:15-3:15, NYU
'In philosophy it is can in particular that we seem so often to recover, just as we had thought some problem settled, grinning residually up at us like a frog at the bottom of the beer mug.' - Austin, Ifs and Cans
What does it mean to say S is able to φ? We will explore this issue from both the point of view of the philosophy of language, where it raises interesting issues in modal semantics, and philosophy of action, where it has been a central part of traditional questions about human action and agency.
Schedule:
September 5: The existential analysis and some puzzles
Kenny, Human abilities and dynamic modalities; Kratzer, What 'Must' and 'Can' must and can mean; Hackl, On the semantics of "ability attributions"
Handout
September 12: Modally complex analyses
The mixed modal analysis: Brown, On the logic of ability
Conditional analyses: Thomason, Ability, action and context; Honoré, Can and Can't; Austin, Ifs and Cans; Mandelkern, Schultheis, and Boylan, Agentive modals
Handout
September 19: No class (Matt away)
September 26: Language models and abilities
Guest speaker: Jacqueline Harding, Harding and Sharadin, What is it for a Machine Learning Model to Have a Capability?
October 3: More on conditional analyses
Handout
October 10: Ability vs. Control
Boylan, Does Success entail Ability?; Santorio, Ability as dependence modality, Kikkert, Ability's two dimensions of robustness; Loets and Zakkou, Agentive Duality Reconsidered
Handout
October 17: Ability and probability
Mandelkern, Chance, ability and control,
Handout
October 24: Ability and determinism
Lewis, Are we free to break the laws?; Lewis, Counterfactual dependence and time's arrow, Dorr, Against counterfactual miracles; Holguin and Teitel, On the plurality of counterfactuals; Albritton, Freedom of will and freedom of action; Setiya, Freedom and the will;
Handout
October 31: Ability and dispositions
Vetter, Are abilities dispositions?; Fara, Masked ability and compatibilism; Vihvelin, Free Will Demystified: A Dispositional Account
Handout
November 7: Inexact ability
Guest speaker: Annina Loets, Inexact Ability
November 14: Actuality entailments
Guest speaker: David Boylan on Ability and Actuality (joint work with Ginger Schultheis).