Think Generic! The Meaning and Use of Generic Sentences

Ariel Cohen

ISBN 10: 1575862085 / ISBN 13: 9781575862088

Editore: Stanford Univ Center for the Study, 1999

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224 pages. 9.25x6.25x0.50 inches. In Stock. Codice articolo __1575862085

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Titolo: Think Generic! The Meaning and Use of ...

Casa editrice: Stanford Univ Center for the Study

Data di pubblicazione: 1999

Legatura: Paperback

Condizione: Brand New

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Riassunto:

Our knowledge about the world is often expressed by generic sentences, yet their meanings are far from clear. This book provides answers to central problems concerning generics: what do they mean? Which factors affect their interpretation? How can one reason with generics? Cohen proposes that the meanings of generics are probability judgments, and shows how this view accounts for many of their puzzling properties, including lawlikeness. Generics are evaluated with respect to alternatives. Cohen argues that alternatives are induced by the kind as well as by the predicated property, and thus provides a uniform account of the varied interpretations of generics. He studies the formal properties of alternatives and provides a compositional account of their derivation by focus and presupposition. Cohen uses his semantics of generics to provide a formal characterization of adequate default reasoning, and proves some desirable results of this formalism.

Descrizione del libro:

This book provides a new approach to central problems concerning generic sentences. Cohen proposes that the meanings of generics are probability judgments, and shows how this view accounts for many of their puzzling properties, including lawlikeness. He uses his semantics of generics to provide a formal characterization of adequate default reasoning.