ASSERTIONS OF COUNTERFACTUALS AND EPISTEMIC IRRESPONSIBILITY

So-called reverse Sobel sequences seem to pose a problem for the variably strict semantics for counterfactuals. The existence of such sequences is taken by some scholars to be the main evidence in favour of an alternative, dynamic approach to the semantics of counterfactuals. According to Moss, however, a pragmatic approach to RSSs would be able to save the standard account. Central to her proposal there is a principle called `principle of epistemic irre-sponsibility', according to which it is irresponsible to assert a counterfactual which contradicts a possibility that has become salient in the discourse. While agreeing on a pragmatic take on RSSs, in this paper I discuss the EI principle and highlight some problems of it.