Inference and if-then

M. D. Braine presented arguments intended to demonstrate that "if-then" represents an inference relation between sentences. He has further argued that although Ss are unaware of the consequences of their inference schemata, these schemata imply that if-then has the properties of the material conditional. Philosophical and logical traditions have opposed this conclusion for 2 millennia. The present article shows that Braine has not provided definitive evidence that if-then has the properties of the material conditional rather than other logical connectives. Further experimentation is required to demonstrate which of the formal connectives is used in natural reasoning. (4 ref)