Modals with a taste of the deontic

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present an explanation for the impact of normative considerations on people’s assessment of certain seemingly purely descriptive matters concerning freedom, causation, and intentionality. The explanation is based on two main claims. First, the relevant judgments are modal: the sentences evaluated are contextually equivalent to modal proxies. Second, the interpretation of predominantly circumstantial or teleological modals is subject to constraints which make certain possibilities salient at the expense of others.