Temporal Orientation in Conditionals

Abstract

This paper argues for a modal explanation for temporal orientation facts in both antecedents and consequents of conditionals. Future-oriented statives are shown to get their future orientation by means of a different mechanism from future-oriented eventives. Thus, eventuality type and temporal orientation turn out to be correlated more closely than previously thought, and the “present eventive constraint” is not useful in accounting for the temporal orientation facts. Thus we must look for a new kind of explanation. I argue that temporal orientation, and therefore also eventuality type, are correlated with modal flavor, so that the most promising way to explain the temporal orientation facts will be through appealing to the modal facts. Two apparent objections to this kind of account are removed: the proposed existence of epistemic eventives (I argue that these examples are actually derived statives), and the assumption that antecedents and consequents share the same modal flavor (they do not, despite traditional assumptions).