front cover of A Paradigm for Program Semantics
A Paradigm for Program Semantics
Chris Brink and Ingrid Rewitsky
CSLI, 2001
This book provides a synthesis of four versions of program semantic—srelational semantics, predicate transformer semantics, information systems, and domain theory—showing, through an exhaustive case study analysis, that it is possible to do back-and-forth translation from any of these versions of program semantics into any of the others, and demonstrating that while there are many variations of each, in principle they may be thought of as intertranslatable.
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front cover of Partiality, Modality and Nonmonotonicity
Partiality, Modality and Nonmonotonicity
Patrick Doherty
CSLI, 1996
This edited volume of articles provides a state-of-the-art description of research in logic-based approaches to knowledge representation which combines approaches to reasoning with incomplete information that include partial, modal, and nonmonotonic logics. The collection contains two parts: foundations and case studies. The foundations section provides a general overview of partiality, multi-valued logics, use of modal logic to model partiality and resource-limited inference, and an integration of partial and modal logics. The case studies section provides specific studies of issues raised in the foundations section. Several of the case studies integrate modal and partial modal logics with nonmonotonic logics. Both theoretical and practical aspects of such integration are considered. Knowledge representation issues such as default reasoning, theories of action and change, reason maintenance, awareness, and automation of nonmonotonic reasoning are covered.
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front cover of Perspectives from the Disciplines
Perspectives from the Disciplines
Stanford Online High School
Jeffrey Scarborough and Raymond Ravaglia
CSLI
In this companion volume to Bricks and Mortar, Jeffrey Scarborough and Raymond Ravaglia present a series of essays written by senior instructors and division heads at the Stanford Online High School (SOHS). Written from the perspective of the online-learning practitioner, these essays discuss in detail the challenges of teaching particular disciplines, accomplishing particular pedagogical objectives, and fostering the habits of mind characteristic of students who have received deep education in a given discipline. Perspectives from the Disciplines also examines counseling, student services, and student life viewpoints as it discusses how a truly international community has been fostered at SOHS, and how SOHS’s student relationships are in many ways deeper and more intimate than those found in traditional secondary schools.
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front cover of Perspectives in Phonology
Perspectives in Phonology
Edited by Jennifer S. Cole and Charles Kisseberth
CSLI, 1997
Subject: Linguistics; Grammar--Phonology
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front cover of Perspectives on Contexts
Perspectives on Contexts
Edited by Paolo Bouquet, Luciano Serafini, and Richmond H. Thomason
CSLI, 2008

Most human thinking is thoroughly informed by context but, until recently, theories of reasoning have concentrated on abstract rules and generalities that make no reference to this crucial factor. Perspectives on Contexts brings together essays from leading cognitive scientists to forge a vigorous interdisciplinary understanding of the contextual phenomenon. Applicable to human and machine cognition in philosophy, artificial intelligence, and psychology, this volume is essential to the current renaissance in thinking about context.

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front cover of A Philosophical Introduction to Probability
A Philosophical Introduction to Probability
Maria Carla Galavotti
CSLI, 2004
Not limited to merely mathematics, probability has a rich and controversial philosophical aspect. A Philosophical Introduction to Probability showcases lesser-known philosophical notions of probability and explores the debate over their interpretations. Galavotti traces the history of probability and its mathematical properties and then discusses various philosophical positions on probability, from the Pierre Simon de Laplace's “classical” interpretation of probability to the logical interpretation proposed by John Maynard Keynes. This book is a valuable resource for students in philosophy and mathematics and all readers interested in notions of probability.
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front cover of The Philosophical Roots of Anthropology
The Philosophical Roots of Anthropology
William Adams
CSLI, 1998
Anthropologists claim to have made mankind aware of its own prehistory and its importance to human self-understanding. Yet, anthropologists seem hardly to have discovered their own discipline's prehistory or to have realized its importance. William Y. Adams attempts to rectify this myopic self-awareness by applying anthropology's own tools on itself and uncovering the discipline's debt to earlier thinkers.

Like most anthropologists, Adams had previously accepted the premise that anthropology's intellectual roots go back no further than the moral philosophy of the Enlightenment, or perhaps at the earliest to the humanism of the Renaissance. In this volume, Adams recognizes that many good ideas were anticipated in antiquity and that these ideas have had a lasting influence on anthropological models in particular. He has chosen five philosophical currents whose influence has been, and is, very widespread, particularly in North American anthropology: progressivism, primitivism, natural law, German idealism, and "Indianology". He argues that the influences of these currents in North American anthropology occur in a unique combination that is not found in the anthropologies of other countries. Without neglecting the anthropologies of other countries, this work serves as the basis for the explanation of the true historical and philosophical underpinnings of anthropology and its goals.
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front cover of The Philosophical Status of Diagrams
The Philosophical Status of Diagrams
Mark Greaves
CSLI, 2001
The use of diagrams in logic and geometry has encountered resistance in recent years. For a proof to be valid in geometry, it must not rely on the graphical properties of a diagram. In logic, the teaching of proofs depends on sentenial representations, ideas formed as natural language sentences such as "If A is true and B is true...." No serious formal proof system is based on diagrams.

This book explores the reasons why structured graphics have been largely ignored in contemporary formal theories of axiomatic systems. In particular, it elucidates the systematic forces in the intellectual history of mathematics which have driven the adoption of sentential representational styles over diagrammatic ones. In this book, the effects of historical forces on the evolution of diagrammatically-based systems of inference in logic and geometry are traced from antiquity to the early twentieth-century work of David Hilbert. From this exploration emerges an understanding that the present negative attitudes towards the use of diagrams in logic and geometry owe more to implicit appeals to their history and philosophical background than to any technical incompatibility with modern theories of logical systems.
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front cover of Possessive Descriptions
Possessive Descriptions
Chris Barker
CSLI, 1995
What do possessive noun phrases mean? Although possessives are one of the most commonly used construction types cross-linguistically, they have never received detailed or sustained study from a semantic point of view. Taking work of Abney, May, and Heim as a starting point, this book develops a comprehensive analysis of the contribution of possessive NPs to the truth conditions of the sentences in which they occur.
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front cover of The Possibility of Language
The Possibility of Language
Internal Tensions in Wittgenstein's Tractatus
Maria Cerezo
CSLI, 2003
In this volume, Maria Cerezo examines Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus as a response to some of Frege's and Russel's logical problems. In analyzing the tractarian conditions for the possibility of language, she explains the two main theories of the proposition in Tractatus: the truth-functions theory and the picture theory. Cerezo shows that Wittgenstein initially separates the account of the structure of a proposition from the explanation of its expression. However, contrary to his intention, the combination of these theories creates new difficulties, since the requirements of each theory cannot be fully respected by the others. Cerezo also argues that Wittgenstein's theory of language cannot be fully understood unless attention is paid to his theory of expression and his doctrine of projection by the metaphysical subject.
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front cover of Postverbal Behavior
Postverbal Behavior
Thomas Wasow
CSLI, 2002
Compared to many languages, English has relatively fixed word order, but the ordering among phrases following the verb exhibits a good deal of variation. This monograph explores factors that influence the choice among possible orders of postverbal elements, testing hypotheses using a combination of corpus studies and psycholinguistic experiments. Wasow's final chapters explore how studies of language use bear on issues in linguistic theory, with attention to the roles of quantitative data and Chomsky's arguments against the use of statistics and probability in linguistics.
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front cover of Practical Guide to Syntactic Analysis, 2nd Edition
Practical Guide to Syntactic Analysis, 2nd Edition
Georgia M. Green and Jerry L. Morgan
CSLI, 2001
The Practical Guide to Syntactic Analysis is a resource for students and practitioners of syntax at all levels, addressing matters that textbooks do not explain. Relatively independent sections target issues ranging from the seductive metaphors of generative grammar and the character of linguistic argumentation to practical advice about both getting started and presenting analysis. This second edition adds a reference guide to over sixty grammatical phenomena that every syntactician should be familiar with.
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front cover of Practical Reflection
Practical Reflection
J. David Velleman
CSLI, 2013
“What do you see when you look at your face in the mirror?” asks J. David Velleman in introducing his philosophical theory of action. He takes this simple act of self-scrutiny as a model for the reflective reasoning of rational agents: our efforts to understand our existence and conduct are aided by our efforts to make it intelligible. Reflective reasoning, Velleman argues, constitutes practical reasoning. By applying this conception, Practical Reflection develops philosophical accounts of intention, free will, and the foundation of morals. This new edition of Practical Reflection contains the original 1989 text along with a new introduction and is the latest entry in The David Hume Series of Philosophy and Cognitive Science Reissues, which keeps in print previously published indispensable works in the area of cognitive science.

 

 

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front cover of Predicative Constructions
Predicative Constructions
From the Fregean to a Montagovian Treatment
Frank Van Eynde
CSLI, 2015
There are multitudes of ways in which predicative constructions can be analyzed. In this book, Frank Van Eynde differentiates between the Fregean and Montagovian treatments of these constructions in order to better understand predicative constructions as a grammatical model. Although he focuses his arguments on English and Dutch, Van Eynde also includes analyses of other Indo-European and non-Indo-European languages in order to better explore phenomena that do not occur in the two primary languages of his study.
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front cover of Presupposition and Anaphora
Presupposition and Anaphora
Emiel Krahmer
CSLI, 1998
In this book, two related phenomena are studied: presupposition and anaphora. Dynamic semantics is by now widely accepted as a first-rate foundation for such an exercise and it forms the backbone of most of the work in this book. A recurring additional theme of the present book is the usefulness of techniques from partial logic in the treatment of both phenomena. Rather than adding completely new semantic theories to the present gamut of theories, the author discusses a number of existing approaches which aim at accounting for the behavior of presuppositions and/or anaphors, makes improvements where necessary, and compares the results. Presupposition and Anaphora starts with an introduction to a number of dynamic semantic theories and their correlations, paying special attention to the treatment of disjunctions and negations. Subsequently, presuppositions are studied in the context of partial logics, Montague Grammar and dynamic semantics.
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front cover of Presupposition and Assertion in Dynamic Semantics
Presupposition and Assertion in Dynamic Semantics
A Critical Review of Linguistic Theories of Presupposition and a Dynamic Alternative
David I. Beaver
CSLI, 2001
Russell and Strawson sparked a well known debate on the subject of Linguistic Presupposition inspiring many linguists and philosophers to follow suit, including Frege, whose work initiated the modern study in this area. Beaver begins with the most comprehensive overview and critical discussion of this burgeoning field published to date. He then goes on to motivate and develop his own account based on a Dynamic Semantics. This account is a recent line of theoretical work in which the Tarskian emphasis on truth conditions is questioned. The central plank of the theory of meaning is a formal account of the change in information effected by use of language on hearers or readers. The proposal thus consolidates ideas of Stalnaker, Karttunen and Heim, all of whom had suggested that such an account was needed. At the same time it provides a new impulse and motivation to Dynamic Semantics itself.
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front cover of A Primer of Probability Logic
A Primer of Probability Logic
Ernest W. Adams
CSLI, 1996

This book is meant to be a primer, that is, an introduction, to probability logic, a subject that appears to be in its infancy. Probability logic is a subject envisioned by Hans Reichenbach and largely created by Adams. It treats conditionals as bearers of conditional probabilities and discusses an appropriate sense of validity for arguments such conditionals, as well as ordinary statements as premisses.

This is a clear well-written text on the subject of probability logic, suitable for advanced undergraduates or graduates, but also of interest to professional philosophers. There are well-thought-out exercises, and a number of advanced topics treated in appendices, while some are brought up in exercises and some are alluded to only in footnotes. By this means, it is hoped that the reader will at least be made aware of most of the important ramifications of the subject and its tie-ins with current research, and will have some indications concerning recent and relevant literature.

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front cover of Principles of Knowledge Representation
Principles of Knowledge Representation
Gerhard Brewka
CSLI, 1996
Subject: Philosophy; Theory of Knowledge
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front cover of Probabilistic Approaches to Linguistic Theory
Probabilistic Approaches to Linguistic Theory
Edited by Jean-Philippe Bernardy, Rasmus Blanck, Stergios Chatzikyriakidis, Shalom Lappin, and Aleksandre Maskharashvili
CSLI, 2022
A textbook exploring predictive modes of linguistic development and analysis.

During the last two decades, computational linguists, in concert with other researchers in AI, have turned to machine learning and statistical techniques to capture features of natural language and aspects of the learning process that are not easily accommodated in classical algebraic frameworks. These developments are producing a revolution in linguistics in which traditional symbolic systems are giving way to probabilistic and deep learning approaches. This collection features articles that provide background to these approaches, and their application in syntax, semantics, pragmatics, morphology, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, and dialogue modeling. Each chapter provides a self-contained introduction to the topic that it covers, making this volume accessible to graduate students and researchers in linguistics, NLP, AI, and cognitive science.
 
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front cover of The Problem of the Essential Indexical and Other Essays, Expanded Edition
The Problem of the Essential Indexical and Other Essays, Expanded Edition
John Perry
CSLI, 2000
No word in English is shorter than the word ``I.'' And yet no word is more important in philosophy. When Descartes said ``I think therefore I am'' he produced something that was both about himself and a universal formula. The word ``I'' is called an ``indexical'' because its meaning always depends on who says it. Other examples of indexicals are ``you,'' ``here,'' ``this'' and ``now.''

John Perry discusses how these kinds of words work, and why they express important philosophical thoughts. He shows that indexicals pose a challenge to traditional assumptions about language and thought. Over the years a number of these papers, now included in this book, have sparked lively debates and have been influential in philosophy, linguistics and other areas of cognitive science.

With seven new papers, including the previously unpublished ``What Are Indexicals?,'' the present volume expands on an earlier version of this book published in the early nineties. Also included are the well-known papers ``Frege on Demonstratives,'' ``Cognitive Significance and New Theories of Reference,'' ``Evading the Slingshot,'' ``The Prince and the Phone booth'' (coauthored with Mark Crimmins), ``Fodor on Psychological Explanations'' (coauthored with David Israel), and related papers on situation semantics, direct reference, and the structure of belief. This book also includes afterwords written by the author that discuss responses to his work by Gareth Evans, Robert Stalnaker, Barbara Partee, Howard Wettstein and others.
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front cover of Projecting Morphology
Projecting Morphology
Edited by Louisa Sadler and Andrew Spencer
CSLI, 2003
The separation of syntax and morphology is a major principle in contemporary lexicalist theories. The syntactic theory of Lexical-Functional Grammar recognizes this separation on a structural level but argues that both are equal, interacting, and competing contributors in a functional setting. This book discusses the relationship between morphology and LFG, reintroducing two seminal papers on the theory's impact on morphology and presenting new material on current morphological issues, including the nature of morphosyntactic paradigms and the role of optimality theory.
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front cover of The Projection of Arguments
The Projection of Arguments
Lexical and Compositional Factors
Edited by Miriam Butt and Wilhelm Geuder
CSLI, 1998
It is becoming increasingly clear that the standard approach to argument linking in terms of "thematic roles", which are determined by the lexical meaning of verbs, has some serious shortcomings. This volume sets out to explore alternatives to a rigid model of lexical projection. It brings together a set of papers from different backgrounds that converge on the general hypothesis that the many semantic factors which influence the projection of arguments should be attributed to compositional processes rather than to the fixed contents of lexical entries. Proposals for a reassessment of the lexicon-syntax interface include flexible models of lexical meaning with productive derivation of alternants, as well as models where the structural context supplants much of the putative role of lexical entries. The topics addressed include questions of argument hierarchies and adicity of predicates, and the syntax and semantics of argument alternations in a set of very diverse languages, which include English, Dutch, Scottish Gaelic, Finnish, Hebrew, Kannada, Malay, Inuit, and Yaqui.
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front cover of Propositional Attitudes
Propositional Attitudes
The Role of Content in Logic, Language, and Mind
Edited by C. Anthony Anderson and Joseph Owens
CSLI, 1990
These papers treat those issues involved in formulating a logic of propositional attitudes and consider the relevance of the attitudes to the continuing study of both the philosophy of language and the philosophy of mind. C. Anthony Anderson is professor of philosophy and Joseph Owens is assistant professor of philosophy, both at the University of Minnesota.
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front cover of Putting Linguistics into Speech Recognition
Putting Linguistics into Speech Recognition
The Regulus Grammar Compiler
Manny Rayner, Beth Ann Hockey, and Pierrette Bouillon
CSLI, 2006
Most computer programs that analyze spoken dialogue use a spoken command grammar, which limits what the user can say when talking to the system. To make this process simpler, more automated, and effective for command grammars even at initial stages of a project, the Regulus grammar compiler was developed by a consortium of experts—including NASA scientists. This book presents a complete description of both the practical and theoretical aspects of Regulus and will be extremely helpful for students and scholars working in computational linguistics as well as software engineering.
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