Assertion And Conditionals

Author : Anthony Appiah
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 298 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 1985-09-19
Category : Mathematics
ISBN : 0521304113

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Assertion and Conditionals by Anthony Appiah Pdf

This book develops in detail the simple idea that assertion is the expression of belief. In it the author puts forward a version of 'probabilistic semantics' which acknowledges that we are not perfectly rational, and which offers a significant advance in generality on theories of meaning couched in terms of truth conditions. It promises to challenge a number of entrenched and widespread views about the relations of language and mind. Part I presents a functionalist account of belief, worked through a modified form of decision theory. In Part II the author generates a theory of meaning in terms of 'assertibility conditions', whereby to know the meaning of an assertion is to know the belief it expresses.

Author : Ian Ravenscroft
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 484 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2009-01-22
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780191556258

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Minds, Ethics, and Conditionals by Ian Ravenscroft Pdf

An illustrious line-up of seventeen philosophers from the USA, the UK, and Australia present new essays on themes from the work of Frank Jackson, which bridges mind, language, logic, metaphysics, and ethics. Central to Jackson's work is an approach to metaphysical issues built on the twin foundations of supervenience and conceptual analysis. In the first part of the book six essays examine this approach and its application to philosophy of mind and philosophy of colour. The second part focuses on Jackson's highly influential work on phenomenal consciousness. The third part is devoted to Jackson's work in ethics, both normative ethics and metaethics. The last three papers discuss Jackson's ground-breaking work on conditionals. The final section of the book comprises a substantial essay by Jackson in reply to his critics: this offers some of the clearest expressions of the ideas which Jackson has brought to the fore in philosophy.

Author : George Edward Hughes
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 604 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 1990
Category : History
ISBN : 0197260942

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Logica Magna by George Edward Hughes Pdf

In this fascicule Paul examines conditional propositions and inferences. Detailed notes make Paul's terminology and background ideas and assumptions more accessible to the modern reader, and an appendix contains substantial extracts from the writings of two fourteenth-century logicians, Ralph Strode and John Venator, both of whose works Paul makes extensive use of in this part of the Logica Magna.

Author : Judith Thomson,Alex Byrne
Publisher : Oxford University Press on Demand
Page : 313 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2006-10-12
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780199282807

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Content and Modality by Judith Thomson,Alex Byrne Pdf

Eleven distinguished philosophers have contributed specially written essays on a set of topics much debated in recent years, including physicalism, qualia, semantic competence, conditionals, presuppositions, two-dimensional semantics, and the relation between logic and metaphysics. All these topics are prominent in the work of Robert Stalnaker, a major presence in contemporary philosophy, in honour of whom the volume is published. It also contains a substantial new essay in whichStalnaker replies to his critics, and sets out his current views on the topics discussed.Contributors: Richard Heck, Frank Jackson, William Lycan, Vann McGee, John Perry, Paul Pietroski, Sydney Shoemaker, Scott Soames, Daniel Stoljar, Timothy Williamson, and Stephen Yablo.

Author : Jonathan Bennett
Publisher : Clarendon Press
Page : 402 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2003-04-03
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780191531743

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A Philosophical Guide to Conditionals by Jonathan Bennett Pdf

Conditional sentences are among the most intriguing and puzzling features of language: analysis of their meaning and function has important implications for, and uses in, many areas of philosophy. Jonathan Bennett, one of the world's leading experts, distils many years' work and teaching into this Philosophical Guide to Conditionals, the fullest and most authoritative treatment of the subject. The literature on conditionals is difficult - needlessly so. Bennett's treatment is meticulously careful and luminously clear. He presents and evaluates in detail various approaches to the understanding of 'indicative' conditionals (like 'If Shakespeare didn't write Hamlet, some aristocrat did') and 'subjunctive' conditionals (like 'If rabbits had not been deliberately introduced into New Zealand, there would be none there today'); and he offers his own view, which will be recognized as a major original contribution to the subject. Journeying through this intellectual territory brings one into contact with the metaphysics of possible worlds, probability and belief-change, probability and logic, the pragmatics of conversation, determinism, ambiguity, vagueness, the law of excluded middle, facts versus events, and more. One might perhaps learn more philosophy from a thorough study of conditionals than from any other kind of work. Bennett's Guide is an ideal introduction for undergraduates with a philosophical grounding, and will also be a rich source of illumination and stimulation for graduate students and professional philosophers.

Author : Frank Jackson
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 1991
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : UOM:39015022028172

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Conditionals by Frank Jackson Pdf

This collection of readings introduces the reader to the most interesting current work on conditionals. Particular attention is paid to possible worlds semantics for conditionals; the role of conditional probability in helping us to understand conditionals; implicature and the materialconditional; and subjective versus indicative conditionals. The volume brings together important papers by Frank Jackson, V. H. Dudman, Dorothy Edgington, Nelson Goodman, H. P. Grice, David Lewis, and Robert Stalnaker. Oxford Readings in Philosophy is a series designed to bring together important recent writings in major areas of philosophical inquiry, selected from a variety of sources, mostly periodicals, which may not be conveniently available to the university student or the general reader. The editor ofeach volume contributes an introductory essay on the items chosen and on the questions with which they deal. A selective bibliography is appended as a guide to further reading.

Author : Michael Woods
Publisher : Clarendon Press
Page : 166 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 1997-05-22
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780191587825

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Conditionals by Michael Woods Pdf

Conditionals has at its centre an extended essay on this problematic and much-debated subject in the philosophy of language and logic, which the widely respected Oxford philosopher Michael Woods had been preparing for publication at the time of his death in 1993. Woods discusses the distinction between different kinds of conditionals, and then goes on to cover a range of topics, including assertibility, conditional probability, possible-worlds theories, and conditional commands and questions. He ends up sketching a new theory of counterfactual conditionals. This essay is edited for publication by Wood's friend and colleague David Wiggins, and accompanied by a commentary specially written by a leading expert on the topic, Dorothy Edgington. The masterful and original treatment of conditionals presented in this book will demand the attention of all philosophers working in this area.

Author : Lee Walters,John Hawthorne
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2021-02-11
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780191021343

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Conditionals, Paradox, and Probability by Lee Walters,John Hawthorne Pdf

Conditionals, Paradox, and Probability brings together fifteen original essays by experts in philosophy and linguistics. These specially written chapters draw on themes from the work of Dorothy Edgington, the first woman to hold a chair in philosophy at the University of Oxford. The contributors to this volume focus on the key topics to which Edgington has made many important contributions, including conditionals, vagueness, the paradox of knowability, and probability. Their insights will be of interest to philosophers, linguists, and psychologists working in philosophical logic, natural language semantics, and reasoning.

Author : Peter Smith
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 370 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2003-11-06
Category : Mathematics
ISBN : 9781107494589

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An Introduction to Formal Logic by Peter Smith Pdf

Formal logic provides us with a powerful set of techniques for criticizing some arguments and showing others to be valid. These techniques are relevant to all of us with an interest in being skilful and accurate reasoners. In this highly accessible book, Peter Smith presents a guide to the fundamental aims and basic elements of formal logic. He introduces the reader to the languages of propositional and predicate logic, and then develops formal systems for evaluating arguments translated into these languages, concentrating on the easily comprehensible 'tree' method. His discussion is richly illustrated with worked examples and exercises. A distinctive feature is that, alongside the formal work, there is illuminating philosophical commentary. This book will make an ideal text for a first logic course, and will provide a firm basis for further work in formal and philosophical logic.

Author : Andrea Lackner
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 285 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2017-12-04
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781501507755

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Functions of Head and Body Movements in Austrian Sign Language by Andrea Lackner Pdf

Over the past decades, the field of sign language linguistics has expanded considerably. Recent research on sign languages includes a wide range of subdomains such as reference grammars, theoretical linguistics, psycho- and neurolinguistics, sociolinguistics, and applied studies on sign languages and Deaf communities. The SLDC series is concerned with the study of sign languages in a comprehensive way, covering various theoretical, experimental, and applied dimensions of sign language research and their relationship to Deaf communities around the world. The series provides a multidisciplinary.

Author : Justin Khoo
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 371 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2022
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780190096700

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The Meaning of If by Justin Khoo Pdf

Despite its small stature, if occupies a central place both in everyday language and the philosophical lexicon. In allowing us to talk about hypothetical situations, if raises a host of thorny philosophical puzzles about language and logic. Addressing them requires tools from linguistics, logic, probability theory, and metaphysics. Justin Khoo uses these tools to navigate a maze of interconnected issues about conditionals, some of which include: the nature of linguistic communication, the relationship between logical and natural languages, and the relationship between different kinds of modality. According to Khoo's theory, conditionals form a unified class of expressions which share a common semantic core that encodes inferential dispositions. Thus, rather than represent the world, conditionals are devices used to communicate how we are disposed to infer. Khoo shows that this theory can be extended to predict the probabilities of conditionals, as well as how different kinds of conditionals differ both semantically and pragmatically. Khoo's book will make for a significant contribution to the literature on conditionals and should be of interest to philosophers, linguists, and computer scientists.

Author : Todor Koev
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 176 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2022-06-16
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780192640840

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Parenthetical Meaning by Todor Koev Pdf

This book investigates the semantics and pragmatics of a representative sample of parenthetical constructions. Todor Koev argues that these constructions fall into two major classes: pure and impure. Pure parentheticals comment on some part of the descriptive content of the root sentence but are otherwise relatively independent of it. Impure parentheticals modify components of the illocutionary force and affect the felicity or the truth of the root sentence. The book studies parentheticals from three theoretical viewpoints: illocutionary effects, scopal properties, and discourse status. It establishes and explicates the notion of parenthetical meaning in a formally precise and predictive dynamic-semantic model. As a result, parentheticality is brought to bear on linguistic phenomena such as entailment and presupposition, binding and anaphora, evidentiality and modality, illocutionary force, and polarity.

Author : John MacFarlane
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2020-11-29
Category : Computers
ISBN : 9781351733564

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Philosophical Logic by John MacFarlane Pdf

Introductory logic is generally taught as a straightforward technical discipline. In this book, John MacFarlane helps the reader think about the limitations of, presuppositions of, and alternatives to classical first-order predicate logic, making this an ideal introduction to philosophical logic for any student who already has completed an introductory logic course. The book explores the following questions. Are there quantificational idioms that cannot be expressed with the familiar universal and existential quantifiers? How can logic be extended to capture modal notions like necessity and obligation? Does the material conditional adequately capture the meaning of 'if'—and if not, what are the alternatives? Should logical consequence be understood in terms of models or in terms of proofs? Can one intelligibly question the validity of basic logical principles like Modus Ponens or Double Negation Elimination? Is the fact that classical logic validates the inference from a contradiction to anything a flaw, and if so, how can logic be modified to repair it? How, exactly, is logic related to reasoning? Must classical logic be revised in order to be applied to vague language, and if so how? Each chapter is organized around suggested readings and includes exercises designed to deepen the reader's understanding. Key Features: An integrated treatment of the technical and philosophical issues comprising philosophical logic Designed to serve students taking only one course in logic beyond the introductory level Provides tools and concepts necessary to understand work in many areas of analytic philosophy Includes exercises, suggested readings, and suggestions for further exploration in each chapter

Author : Timothy Williamson
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 287 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2020
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780198860662

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Suppose and Tell by Timothy Williamson Pdf

What does 'if' mean? Timothy Williamson presents a controversial new approach to understanding conditional thinking, which is central to human cognitive life. He argues that in using 'if' we rely on psychological heuristics, fast and frugal methods which can lead us to trust faulty data and prematurely reject simple theories.

Author : John Mulligan
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 596 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 1874
Category : English language
ISBN : UOMDLP:adx2930:0001.001

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Exposition of the Grammatical Structure of the English Language by John Mulligan Pdf