Does ‘Ought’ Conversationally Implicate ‘Can’?

Abstract

Abstract:Walter Sinnott-Armstrong argues that 'ought' does not entail 'can', but instead conversationally implicates it. I argue that Sinnott-Armstrong is actually committed to a hybrid view about the relation between 'ought' and 'can'. I then give a tensed formulation of the view that 'ought' entails 'can' that deals with Sinnott-Armstrong's argument and that is more unified than Sinnott-Armstrong's view.

‘Ought Implies Can’: Not So Pragmatic After All

“…38 Forrester (1989), 206. 39 As Vranas (2007) and Streumer (2003) do. Sure, it could sound odd to say so, but there are plenty of explanations for its sounding odd.…”

“…A generalized conversational implicature, by contrast, is one in which "the 42 For such a view, see Pigden (1990), who also expresses sympathy for a restricted conversational implicature view, and Saka (2000), 100. 43 I'm not the first to remark on this conclusion (see Streumer (2003) and Driver (2011)), but I present wholly different arguments to its effect. use of a certain form of words in an utterance would normally (in the absence of special circumstances) carry such-and-such an implicature."…”

“… I'm not the first to remark on this conclusion (see Streumer () and Driver ()), but I present wholly different arguments to its effect. …”

“The Thing To Do” Implies “Can”

“…10 It may also mean that we are able to bolster certain existing response to the familiar complaint. For example, one appealing existing response holds that the familiar complaint conflates claims about what we ought to do and claims about what we ought to have done (Zimmerman 1996;Streumer 2003). Properly interpreted, (OC) only licenses inferences in the case of claims about what we ought to do.…”

Reasons, impossibility and efficient steps: reply to Heuer

“…97-100),Haji (2002, pp. 47-49),Streumer (2003),Howard-Snyder (2006, pp. 235-236), andVranas (2007, pp.…”