Deng, Duen-minDuen-minDeng2019-11-292019-11-2920181021-3058https://scholars.lib.ntu.edu.tw/handle/123456789/434573There is an intimate connection between "counterfactual reasoning" and "explanatory relations." On the one hand, "counterfactual reasoning" plays a crucial role in helping us establish certain explanatory relations, as it is widely acknowledged that explanatory relations have counterfactual implications, by which we may test whether a given explanatory relation holds. On the other hand, explanatory relations also play a crucial role in our counterfactual reasoning. This, however, is comparatively less discussed in the literature, and it is the aim of this paper to explicate it more clearly, with a special focus on the role of explanatory relations in our understanding of counterfactual conditionals. I shall examine the alleged connection through the main semantic frameworks for counterfactual conditionals, including the possible world semantics, causal models, and the premise semantics.counterfactual reasoning; explanatory relations; possible world semantics; causal models; premise semanticsjournal articleWOS:000453905600003