Philosophy
The Logic of Counterfactuals and Possible Worlds
Quick fact
David Lewis's semantics uses a 'closeness' ordering of possible worlds, where worlds that differ less from ours (e.g., in laws of physics) are considered more relevant when evaluating counterfactuals.
Why this is interesting
We say 'If I had left earlier, I would have caught the train.' But the past is fixed—so what makes that statement true or false? How can we judge a world that never happened?