Условия и условни изречения
Conditions and Conditional Sentences

Summary/Abstract: The terms “sufficient condition” and “necessary condition” are related to conditional sentences (those of the form “If A, then B”). The meaning of the former depends on the use of the latter, and conditional sentences are used differently. A conditional sentence could express material implication, but it could also express formal implication. The terms “sufficient condition” and “necessary condition” reflect this difference, each taking on respectively (at least) two different meanings. In the text, I indicate and analyze these meanings. The difference between them is significant because, as it turns out, according to one of them (corresponding to the cases where conditional sentences express material implications), if several conditions together are a sufficient condition for something, then (by logical necessity) only one of them is also a sufficient condition for it, which is not the case with the other meaning (corresponding to the cases in which conditional sentences express formal implications). If the difference in meaning is not taken into account, it is not improbable for situations to arise where mixing them up leads to logical problems. An example of this is given in the text.

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