Chapter One: Constructions. Entities, constructions, and functions When one travels from Los Angeles to New York, going, say, by way of St. Louis, Chicago, ...

Traxler, Pickering, and Clifton found that ambiguous sentences are read faster than their unambiguous counterparts. This so-called ambiguity advantage has presented a major challenge to classical theories of human sentence comprehension because its most prominent explanation, in the form of the unrestricted race model, assumes that parsing is non-deterministic. Recently, Swets, Desmet, Clifton, and Ferreira have challenged the URM. They argue that readers strategically underspecify the representation of ambiguous sentences to save time, unless disambiguation is required by task demands. When (...) disambiguation is required, however, readers assign sentences full structure—and Swets et al. provide experimental evidence to this end. On the basis of their findings, they argue against the URM and in favor of a model of task-dependent sentence comprehension. We show through simulations that the Swets et al. data do not constitute evidence for task-dependent parsing because they can be explained by the URM. However, we provide decisive evidence from a German self-paced reading study consistent with Swets et al.'s general claim about task-dependent parsing. Specifically, we show that under certain conditions, ambiguous sentences can be read more slowly than their unambiguous counterparts, suggesting that the parser may create several parses, when required. Finally, we present the first quantitative model of task-driven disambiguation that subsumes the URM, and we show that it can explain both Swets et al.'s results and our findings. (shrink)

Modal logic S5 is commonly viewed as an epistemic logic that captures the most basic properties of knowledge. Kripke proved a completeness theorem for the first-order modal logic S5 with respect to a possible worlds semantics. A multiagent version of the propositional S5 as well as a version of the propositional S5 that describes properties of distributed knowledge in multiagent systems has also been previously studied. This article proposes a version of S5-like epistemic logic of distributed knowledge with quantifiers ranging (...) over the set of agents, and proves its soundness and completeness with respect to a Kripke semantics. (shrink)

It is well known that the manner in which a definitely descriptive term contributes to the meaning of a sentence depends on the place the term occupies in the sentence. A distinction is accordingly drawn between ordinary contexts and contexts variously termed non-referential, intensional, oblique, or opaque. The aim of the present article is to offer a general account of the phenomenon, based on transparent intensional logic. It turns out that on this approach there is no need to say (as (...) Frege does) that descriptive terms are referentially ambiguous or to deny (as Russell does) that descriptive terms represent self-contained units of meaning. There is also no need to tolerate (as Montague does) exceptions to the Principle of Functionality. The notion of an ordinary (i.e., non-intensional) context is explicated exclusively in terms of logical structure and it is argued that two aspects of ordinariness (termed hospitality and exposure) must be distinguished. (shrink)

Despite relative neglect in the literature, Kant’s published and unpublished writings in theoretical philosophy reveal a sustained and at times ambivalent effort to come to terms with the problem of miracles. Because they entail a form of supernatural causation that undermines the law-governedness of the order of nature, miracles pose a significant problem for Kant’s metaphysics. I explore in detail Kant’s account of miracles in conjunction with the relevant aspects of his metaphysics of nature in order to establish in what (...) sense miracles are possible, and how they fit into Kant’s architectonic more generally. (shrink)

Aristotle's notion of experience plays an important role in his epistemology as the link between perception and memory on the one side, and higher cognitive capacities on the other side. However, Aristotle does not say much about it, and what he does say seems inconsistent. Notably, some passages suggest that it is a non-rational capacity, others that it is a rational capacity and that it provides the principles of science. This paper presents a unitary account of experience. It explains how (...) experience grows from perception and memory into a rational capacity, and in what way it provides the principles. (shrink)

We give an exponential lower bound on the number of proof-lines in intuitionistic propositional logic, IL, axiomatised in the usual Frege-style fashion; i.e., we give an example of IL-tautologies A1,A2,… s.t. every IL-proof of Ai must have a number of proof-lines exponential in terms of the size of Ai. We show that the results do not apply to the system of classical logic and we obtain an exponential speed-up between classical and intuitionistic logic.

Müslümanlar Kur’ân’ın ilk emri olan okumayı sadece yüzeysel bir okuma değil varlığın özüne inmek ve dünyayı anlamak olarak değerlendirmişlerdir. Bu doğrultuda ilk zamanlardan itibaren etraflarında gelişen tüm olayları ibret nazarıyla incelemişler ve ilmî çalışmalarına konu etmişlerdir. İlim öğrenmenin kadın veya erkek fark etmeksizin tüm Müslümanlar için gerekli görülmesi de onlar için önemli bir motivasyon kaynağı olmuştur. Hızlı ve emin adımlarla yükselen İslam medeniyetinin öne çıkan yönlerinden birisi Müslümanların dini ilimlere gösterdikleri ilgidir. Sadece dini ilimlerle sınırlı kalmayan Müslümanlar sonraki dönemlerde astronomi, (...) matematik, geometri, fizik ve kimya gibi pozitif bilimlere de ilgi göstermişlerdir. Müslümanların bu alana gösterdiği ilginin farklı sebeplerinden birisi Kur'an'da gök cisimleri ve yaratılış gibi hususların yer almasıdır. Ayrıca rutin ibadetlerin vakitlerinin tayininde ay, güneş vb. gök cisimlerinin hareketlerinin esas alınması gibi hususlar Müslümanlarda büyük ilgi ve merak uyandırmıştır. Diğer taraftan fetihlerle birlikte çok geniş bir coğrafyaya yayılan Müslümanlar buralarda farklı etnik, dini ve kültürel unsurlarla karşılaşmışlardır. Kendileri için önemli bir aşama teşkil eden ve bu unsurların sağlayacağı muhtemel faydaları görmezden gelmeyen Müslümanlar, insanlık mirası olarak değerlendirdikleri bilimsel çalışmaları kendi dillerine tercüme etmeye başlamışlardır. Bu faaliyetlerin devlet yetkilileri tarafından da desteklenmesi ile birlikte çalışmaların daha da arttığı görülmektedir. Çalışmamızın temel amaçlarından biri İslam dünyasının fetihlerle birlikte siyasî ve askerî gelişmelerden sonra ilmî çalışmalarda elde ettiği başarısının sebeplerine dair bir değerlendirme yapmaktır. İslam toplumu ilk dönemlerden itibaren öncelikle dini konuların öğrenilmesine ağırlık vermiş, sonrasında ise karşılaştığı diğer medeniyetlerden de etkilenerek pozitif bilimlerle meşgul olmaya başlamıştır. Bu alanlarla ilgili genellikle herhangi bir sınırlamaya bağlı kalmamışlardır. İslâm’ın ilk yıllarında pozitif bilimlere hasredilmiş çalışmalar olmadığı görülse de ilk hicrî yüzyılın sonlarına doğru bu anlamda önemli çalışmalar ortaya çıkmıştır. Müslümanlar öncelikle dinlerini daha iyi anlamaya çalışmışlar, bu konuda belli bir birikim elde ettikten sonra özellikle Abbâsîler (750-1258) döneminde pozitif bilimlere ilgi duymuşlar ve 4/10. yüzyıla gelindiğinde bu alanlarda büyük eserler vermeye başlamışlardır. Çalışmamızda öncelikle Müslümanların yaptığı çalışmalara ilişkin güncel ve klasik kaynaklarda yer alan bilgiler bir araya getirilerek yüzyıllar içerisinde yaşanan değişim ele alınacaktır. Esasında bugün Müslümanların içerisinde bulunduğu durumun çözümü de kısmen bu dönemin daha iyi anlaşılmasında gizlidir. Tarihleri boyunca Müslümanların yaşadıkları bu yükseliş serüvenini anlamak günümüze de önemli ölçüde ışık tutacaktır. (shrink)

Of two false theories, One can be, Intuitively, Closer to the truth than the other. The purpose of the article is to propose a rigorous explication of this intuitive notion.

Motivated by the problem of finding finite versions of classical incompleteness theorems, we present some conjectures that go beyond NP ≠ coNP. These conjectures formally connect computational complexity with the difficulty of proving some sentences, which means that high computational complexity of a problem associated with a sentence implies that the sentence is not provable in a weak theory, or requires a long proof. Another reason for putting forward these conjectures is that some results in proof complexity seem to be (...) special cases of such general statements and we want to formalize and fully understand these statements. Roughly speaking, we are trying to connect syntactic complexity, by which we mean the complexity of sentences and strengths of the theories in which they are provable, with the semantic concept of complexity of the computational problems represented by these sentences. -/- We have introduced the most fundamental conjectures in our earlier works. Our aim in this article is to present them in a more systematic way, along with several new conjectures, and prove new connections between them and some other statements studied before. (shrink)

2 Popper's Logical Definition of Verisimilitude. 3 Popper's Probabilistic Definition of Verisimilitude. 4 Conclusion.

The article offers a rigorous explication of the intuitive notion of verisimilitude, I.E., Of the distance of a theory from the truth. The proposal is defended against charges of material inadequacy made by popper, Niniluoto, And miller.

During the past century of oriental studies, the question of when and where Muslim traditions came to be propped up with validating lines of transmission has attracted a considerable amount of scholarly attention, for its bearing on the key issue of the historicity of ḥadīth. In this essay, I review the existing theories about the origin of the isnād, which alternate between the lifetime of the Prophet’s Companions and the end of the second century AH/c. 816 CE. Based on a (...) hitherto largely overlooked tradition and two general methodological premises, I associate the inception of corroborative attribution to past authorities in legal and theological ḥadīth with the aftermath of al-Mukhtār b. Abī ʿUbayd al-Thaqafī’s revolt in Kūfa. Over the course of the second/eighth century, the isnād institution spread out across the major centers of learning in the caliphate and entered the field of historical reports. Such geographical and typological unevenness of the isnād’s evolution gave rise to conflicting theories about its chronology. (shrink)

This essay sheds additional light on the biographies and fates of Ayn Rand’s closest relatives in the Soviet Union and abroad after young Alissa Rosenbaum left the “country of workers and peasants” in 1926 for the pursuit of a new life in the United States. Previously unknown facets of her relatives’ lives were intertwined with the complex and often tragic historical events of the first half of the twentieth century. Among these relatives are victims of the German blockade of Leningrad, (...) a music teacher, a European bacteriologist, a doctor who was twice a refugee, and a Soviet Medical Service Corps officer. (shrink)

Journal Name: Apeiron Issue: Ahead of print.

The paper deals with the semantics of mathematical notation. In arithmetic, for example, the syntactic shape of a formula represents a particular way of specifying, arriving at, or constructing an arithmetical object (that is, a number, a function, or a truth value). A general definition of this sense of "construction" is proposed and compared with related notions, in particular with Frege's concept of "function" and Carnap's concept of "intensional isomorphism." It is argued that constructions constitute the proper subject matter of (...) both logic and mathematics, and that a coherent semantic account of mathematical formulas cannot be given without assuming that they serve as names of constructions. (shrink)