ABSTRACT
The analysis of counterfactual conditionals is no fussy little grammatical exercise. In one sense the name “problem of counterfactuals” is misleading, because the problem is independent of the form in which a given statement happens to be expressed. The problem of counterfactuals is equally a problem of factual conditionals, for any counterfactual can be transposed into a conditional with a true antecedent and consequent; e.g., since that butter did not melt, it wasn’t heated to 150° F. Some problems about counterfactuals depend upon the definition of cotenability, which in turn seems to depend upon the prior solution of those problems. A more pertinent point is the application of the proposed criterion to vacuous generalities. As the criterion stands, no conditional with an empty antecedent-class will be a law, for all its instances will have been determined prior to its acceptance.
