Our panel of 91 professional philosophers has responded to

32
 questions about 
Sport
68
 questions about 
Happiness
88
 questions about 
Physics
77
 questions about 
Emotion
89
 questions about 
Law
110
 questions about 
Biology
284
 questions about 
Mind
43
 questions about 
Color
374
 questions about 
Logic
151
 questions about 
Existence
208
 questions about 
Science
282
 questions about 
Knowledge
154
 questions about 
Sex
392
 questions about 
Religion
80
 questions about 
Death
218
 questions about 
Education
1280
 questions about 
Ethics
70
 questions about 
Truth
96
 questions about 
Time
110
 questions about 
Animals
27
 questions about 
Gender
51
 questions about 
War
574
 questions about 
Philosophy
5
 questions about 
Euthanasia
81
 questions about 
Identity
2
 questions about 
Action
24
 questions about 
Suicide
54
 questions about 
Medicine
244
 questions about 
Justice
2
 questions about 
Culture
31
 questions about 
Space
287
 questions about 
Language
75
 questions about 
Beauty
105
 questions about 
Art
67
 questions about 
Feminism
58
 questions about 
Abortion
36
 questions about 
Literature
170
 questions about 
Freedom
75
 questions about 
Perception
39
 questions about 
Race
221
 questions about 
Value
117
 questions about 
Children
58
 questions about 
Punishment
69
 questions about 
Business
134
 questions about 
Love
4
 questions about 
Economics
23
 questions about 
History
124
 questions about 
Profession
34
 questions about 
Music

Question of the Day

I agree with my colleague that "Only if A, then B" is not idiomatic English, and so it's hard to know what your teacher meant. In teaching logic over the years, I've seen many examples that take this form: "Only if A, B" — leaving the word "then" out. An English example might be the somewhat stilted but acceptable "Only if you're at least 18 are you eligible to vote." That's the same as saying "You are eligible to vote only if you're at least 18." And that's different from saying "If you're at least 18, you're eligible to vote." Saying "If you're at least 18, you're eligible to vote" means that there are no other qualifications needed; being 18 or older is enough. Saying "You're eligible to vote only if you're at least 18" allows that there may be other requirements as well, such as being a citizen. So if what your teacher meant was "Only if A, B," then perhaps my example shows that this isn't the same as "If A then B."

It sounds to me as though your teacher may be using the awkward expression "Only if A, then B" as a way of asserting the biconditional "A if and only if B," which is equivalent to the biconditional "B if and only if A." As I say, the expression is awkward, but in any case I wouldn't read it as adding a modal operator like "Necessarily" to the conditional "If A, then B." Whoever wants to say "necessarily" really needs to use that word.

Other than your teacher's decision, I can't think of any reason to treat "Only if A, then B" as the biconditional "A if and only if B." The form "Only if A, then B" isn't something you'll encounter in idiomatic English. Competent speakers wouldn't say, "Only if all humans are mortals, then all nonmortals are nonhuman." Instead, they'd say "All humans are mortals if and only if all nonmortals are nonhumans." But it's probably wise to follow your teacher's decision, at least until you're done with the course!