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Creutzer comments on Open thread, July 28 - August 3, 2014 - Less Wrong Discussion
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A: If John comes to the party, Mary will be happy. (So there is a chance that Mary will be happy.)
B: But John isn't going to the party. (So your argument is invalid.)
That's what the subjunctive is for. If A had said “If Jon came to the party, Mary would be happy”, ...
The same thing can still happen with a subjunctive conditional, though.
A: If John came to the party, Mary would be happy. (So we could make Mary happy by making John come to the party.) B: But John isn't going to the party, no matter what we do. (So your argument is invalid.)
Also, pace George R. R. Martin, the name is still spelled John. Sorry, no offense, I just couldn't resist. :)
Jon -- short for Jonathan -- was a perfectly good name long before George R R Martin.
Ah, thanks. I didn't know that existed as a short form for Jonathan, and inferred that it was merely another instance of his distorting English spelling in names and titles.