Towards Quantifying a Wider Reality: Shannon Exonerata
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An Example of Sharing Information Expressed with Vague Terms
Talking about Forests: an Example of Sharing Information Expressed with Vague Terms Luc´ıa Gomez´ Alvarez´ a, Brandon Bennett a and Adam Richard-Bollans a a University of Leeds, The United Kingdom Abstract. Most natural language terms do not have precise universally agreed defi- nitions that fix their meanings. Even when conversation participants share the same vocabulary and agree on taxonomic relationships (such as subsumption and mutual exclusivity, which might be encoded in an ontology), they may differ greatly in the specific semantics they give to the terms. We illustrate this with the example of ‘forest’, for which the problematic arising of the assignation of different meanings is repeatedly reported in the literature. This is especially the case in the context of an unprecedented scale of publicly available geographic data, where information and databases, even when tagged to ontologies, may present a substantial semantic variation, which challenges interoperability and knowledge exchange. Our research addresses the issue of conceptual vagueness in ontology by pro- viding a framework based on supervaluation semantics that explicitly represents the semantic variability of a concept as a set of admissible precise interpretations. Moreover, we describe the tools that support the conceptual negotiation between an agent and the system, and the specification and reasoning within standpoints. Keywords. concept negotiation, supervaluation, standpoint, forest, GIS, vagueness 1. Introduction Since the shift in philosophy of language from logical positivism to behaviourism and pragmatism, it is widely accepted that most natural language terms do not have precise universally agreed definitions that fix their meanings. Even when conversation partici- pants share the same vocabulary and agree on taxonomic relationships (such as subsump- tion and mutual exclusivity, which might be encoded in an ontology), they may differ greatly in the specific semantics they give to the terms in a particular situation. -
Jonah N. Schupbach: Curriculum Vitae
Jonah N. Schupbach Department of Philosophy, University of Utah [email protected] 402 CTIHB, 215 S. Central Campus Drive jonahschupbach.com Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 (801) 585-5810 Areas of Specialization Areas of Competence Epistemology (including Formal Epistemology) Philosophy of Religion Logic Metaphysics Philosophy of Science Philosophy of Cognitive Science Appointments University of Utah Associate Professor (tenure granted 2017), Department of Philosophy, 2017–present. Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, 2011–2017. Tilburg University Visiting Fellow, Tilburg Center for Logic & Philosophy of Science (TiLPS), September 2008– June 2009. Education Ph.D. History & Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, 2011. Dissertation: Studies in the Logic of Explanatory Power (defended June 14, 2011). Co-directors: John Earman (Pittsburgh, HPS), Edouard Machery (Pittsburgh, HPS). M.A. Philosophy, Western Michigan University, 2006. M.A. Philosophy of Religion, Denver Seminary, 2004. B.S.E. Industrial Engineering, University of Iowa, 2001. Jonah N. Schupbach,Curriculum Vitae 2 Publications Books Conjunctive Explanations: The Nature, Epistemology, and Psychology of Explanatory Multiplicity. New York: Routledge (to appear in Routledge’s Studies in the Philosophy of Science series). Co-edited with David H. Glass. Bayesianism and Scientific Reasoning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (to appear in Cambridge’s Elements in the Philosophy of Science series). Book Chapters “William Paley,” in Stewart Goetz and Charles Taliaferro (eds.), The Encyclopedia of Philosophy of Religion. Malden, MA: Wiley (forthcoming). “Inference to the Best Explanation, Cleaned Up and Made Respectable,” in Kevin McCain and Ted Poston (eds.), Best Explanations: New Essays on Inference to the Best Explanation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, (2017): 39-61. -
Between Foundation and Convention
NCCU Philosophical Journal Vol.10 (July 2003), pp.35-74 ©Department of Philosophy, National Chengchi University Between Foundation and Convention: Carnap’s Evolution between Schlick and Neurath in the Vienna Circle Jeu-Jenq Yuann Tunghai University Abstract For long the foundationalist image of logical positivism has been considered a matter of course. And it is basically accepted that R. Carnap has a great deal to do with this traditional image. Recent researches reveal that this image is not entirely true; Carnap can be deemed as a conventionalist also when some key conceptions are understood from a different point of view. Indeed, by examining some Carnap’s works, we are urged to realize that his view of science is somehow situated somewhere between foundationalism and conventionalism. We argue in this paper that Carnap’s weaving situation can be comprehended by taking into account the discussions taking place in the Vienna Circle and notably the debates among R. 36 NCCU Philosopical Journal Vol.10 Carnap, M. Schlick, and O. Neurath. We intend to make it explicit that Carnap’s stance was first in line with that of Schlick’s foundationalism and then moved to a more conventionalist one under the influence of Neurath. By this argument, we intend to demonstrate the following two points: 1) Discussions in the Vienna Circle were far from unanimous; 2) Carnap’s stance containing ‘an ethical attitude of tolerance’ proceeded mainly under Neurath’s influence. Key Words: Foundationalism, Conventionalism, R. Carnap, M. Schlick, O. Neurath * Received April 06, 2003; accepted July 16, 2003 Proofreaders: Bing-Jie Li Between Foundation and Convention 37 1. -
The Teleodynamics of Language, Culture, Technology and Science (LCT&S)
Information 2013, 4, 94-116; doi:10.3390/info4010094 OPEN ACCESS information ISSN 2078-2489 www.mdpi.com/journal/information Review The Teleodynamics of Language, Culture, Technology and Science (LCT&S) Robert K. Logan 1,2 1 Department of Physics, University of Toronto, 60 Street George, Toronto, ON M5S 1A7, Canada; E-Mail: [email protected]; Tel.: +1-416-361-5928 2 Strategic Innovation Lab OCAD University, Toronto, ON M5T 1W1, Canada Received: 8 November 2012; in revised form: 30 January 2013 / Accepted: 2 February 2013 / Published: 7 February 2013 Abstract: Logan [1] in his book The Extended Mind developed the hypothesis that language, culture, technology and science can be treated as organisms that evolve and reproduce themselves. This idea is extended by making use of the notion of teleodynamics that Deacon [2] introduced and developed in his book Incomplete Nature to explain the nature of life, sentience, mind and a self that acts in its own interest. It is suggested that language, culture, technology and science (LCT&S) like living organisms also act in their own self-interest, are self-correcting and are to a certain degree autonomous even though they are obligate symbionts with their human hosts. Specifically, it will be argued that LCT&S are essentially teleodynamic systems, which Deacon defines as “self-creating, self-maintaining, self-reproducing, individuated systems [2] (p. 325)”. Keywords: language; culture; technology; science; teleodynamics; morphodynamics; thermodynamics; organism; obligate symbiont 1. Introduction Although [teleodynamics] is the distinguishing characteristic of living processes, it is not necessarily limited to the biological—Deacon. Terrence Deacon [2] in his book, Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged from Matter attempts to develop a scientific theory of how properties such as information, value, purpose, meaning, and end-directed behavior emerged from physics and chemistry. -
Consciousness, the Unconscious and Mathematical Modeling of Thinking
entropy Article On “Decisions and Revisions Which a Minute Will Reverse”: Consciousness, The Unconscious and Mathematical Modeling of Thinking Arkady Plotnitsky Literature, Theory and Cultural Studies Program, Philosophy and Literature Program, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA; [email protected] Abstract: This article considers a partly philosophical question: What are the ontological and epistemological reasons for using quantum-like models or theories (models and theories based on the mathematical formalism of quantum theory) vs. classical-like ones (based on the mathematics of classical physics), in considering human thinking and decision making? This question is only partly philosophical because it also concerns the scientific understanding of the phenomena considered by the theories that use mathematical models of either type, just as in physics itself, where this question also arises as a physical question. This is because this question is in effect: What are the physical reasons for using, even if not requiring, these types of theories in considering quantum phenomena, which these theories predict fully in accord with the experiment? This is clearly also a physical, rather than only philosophical, question and so is, accordingly, the question of whether one needs classical-like or quantum-like theories or both (just as in physics we use both classical and quantum theories) in considering human thinking in psychology and related fields, such as decision Citation: Plotnitsky, A. On science. It comes as no surprise that many of these reasons are parallel to those that are responsible “Decisions and Revisions Which a for the use of QM and QFT in the case of quantum phenomena. -
In Press at Cognition. This File Is a Pre-Print and May Contain Errors Or Omissions Not Present in the Final Published Version
In press at Cognition. This file is a pre-print and may contain errors or omissions not present in the final published version. Linguistic Conventionality and the Role of Epistemic Reasoning in Children’s Mutual Exclusivity Inferences Mahesh Srinivasan,1 Ruthe Foushee,1 Andrew Bartnof,1 & David Barner2 1University of California, Berkeley 2University of California, San Diego Please address correspondence to: Mahesh Srinivasan Department of Psychology University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA 94720-1650 Phone: 650-823-9488 Email: [email protected] Mutual Exclusivity and Conventionality Abstract To interpret an interlocutor’s use of a novel word (e.g., “give me the papaya”), children typically exclude referents that they already have labels for (like an “apple”), and expect the word to refer to something they do not have a label for (like the papaya). The goal of the present studies was to test whether such mutual exclusivity inferences require children to reason about the words their interlocutors know and could have chosen to say: e.g., If she had wanted the “apple” she would have asked for it (since she knows the word “apple”), so she must want the papaya. Across four studies, we document that both children and adults will make mutual exclusivity inferences even when they believe that their interlocutor does not share their knowledge of relevant, alternative words, suggesting that such inferences do not require reasoning about an interlocutor’s epistemic states. Instead, our findings suggest that children’s own knowledge of an object’s label, together with their belief that this is the conventional label for the object in their language, and that this convention applies to their interlocutor, is sufficient to support their mutual exclusivity inferences. -
Exclusivity, Teleology and Hierarchy: Our Aristotelean Legacy
Know!. Org. 26(1999)No.2 65 H.A. Olson: Exclusivity, Teleology and Hierarchy: Our Aristotelean Legacy Exclusivity, Teleology and Hierarchy: Our Aristotelean Legacy Hope A. Olson School of Library & Information Studies, University of Alberta Hope A. Olson is an Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator in the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. She holds a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and MLS from the University of Toronto. Her re search is generally in the area of subject access to information with a focus on classification. She approaches this work using feminist, poststructural and postcolonial theory. Dr. Olson teaches organization of knowledge, cataloguing and classification, and courses examining issues in femi nism and in globalization and diversity as they relate to library and information studies. Olson, H.A. (1999). Exclusivity, Teleology and Hierarchy: Our Aristotelean Legacy. Knowl· edge Organization, 26(2). 65-73. 16 refs. ABSTRACT: This paper examines Parmenides's Fragments, Plato's The Sophist, and Aristotle's Prior AnalyticsJ Parts ofAnimals and Generation ofAnimals to identify three underlying presumptions of classical logic using the method of Foucauldian discourse analysis. These three presumptions are the notion of mutually exclusive categories, teleology in the sense of linear progression toward a goal, and hierarchy both through logical division and through the dominance of some classes over others. These three presumptions are linked to classificatory thought in the western tradition. The purpose of making these connections is to investi gate the cultural specificity to western culture of widespread classificatory practice. It is a step in a larger study to examine classi fication as a cultural construction that may be systemically incompatible with other cultures and with marginalized elements of western culture. -
A Bayesian Framework for Cross-Situational Word-Learning
A Bayesian Framework for Cross-Situational Word-Learning Michael C. Frank, Noah D. Goodman, and Joshua B. Tenenbaum Department of Brain and Cognitive Science Massachusetts Institute of Technology fmcfrank, ndg, [email protected] Abstract For infants, early word learning is a chicken-and-egg problem. One way to learn a word is to observe that it co-occurs with a particular referent across different situations. Another way is to use the social context of an utterance to infer the in- tended referent of a word. Here we present a Bayesian model of cross-situational word learning, and an extension of this model that also learns which social cues are relevant to determining reference. We test our model on a small corpus of mother-infant interaction and find it performs better than competing models. Fi- nally, we show that our model accounts for experimental phenomena including mutual exclusivity, fast-mapping, and generalization from social cues. To understand the difficulty of an infant word-learner, imagine walking down the street with a friend who suddenly says “dax blicket philbin na fivy!” while at the same time wagging her elbow. If you knew any of these words you might infer from the syntax of her sentence that blicket is a novel noun, and hence the name of a novel object. At the same time, if you knew that this friend indicated her attention by wagging her elbow at objects, you might infer that she intends to refer to an object in a nearby show window. On the other hand if you already knew that “blicket” meant the object in the window, you might be able to infer these elements of syntax and social cues. -
Mutual Exclusivity in Autism Spectrum Disorders
Cognition xxx (2011) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Cognition journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/COGNIT Mutual exclusivity in autism spectrum disorders: Testing the pragmatic hypothesis ⇑ Ashley de Marchena a, , Inge-Marie Eigsti a, Amanda Worek b, Kim Emiko Ono b, Jesse Snedeker b a Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 406 Babbidge Road, Unit 1020, CT 06269, United States b Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, United States article info abstract Article history: While there is ample evidence that children treat words as mutually exclusive, the cogni- Received 25 November 2009 tive basis of this bias is widely debated. We focus on the distinction between pragmatic Revised 7 December 2010 and lexical constraints accounts. High-functioning children with autism spectrum disor- Accepted 20 December 2010 ders (ASD) offer a unique perspective on this debate, as they acquire substantial vocabular- Available online xxxx ies despite impoverished social-pragmatic skills. We tested children and adolescents with ASD in a paradigm examining mutual exclusivity for words and facts. Words were Keywords: interpreted contrastively more often than facts. Word performance was associated with Mutual exclusivity vocabulary size; fact performance was associated with social-communication skills. Thus Word learning Pragmatics mutual exclusivity does not appear to be driven by pragmatics, suggesting that it is either Autism a lexical constraint or a reflection of domain-general learning processes. Asperger’s syndrome Ó 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Smith, & Jones, 1988; Macnamara, 1982; Markman & Hutchinson, 1984). The experiments that followed demon- In Categorization and Naming in Children (1989), Ellen strated that young children do not learn words through Markman presented a set of questions and phenomena brute force associative learning; instead they approach that have fueled research on word learning for 20 years. -
A DEFENSE of EQUILIBRIUM REASONING in ECONOMICS by Jennifer Soyun Jhun BA in Philosophy and Economics, Northwestern University
A DEFENSE OF EQUILIBRIUM REASONING IN ECONOMICS by Jennifer Soyun Jhun BA in Philosophy and Economics, Northwestern University, 2008 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2016 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH KENNETH P. DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Jennifer Soyun Jhun It was defended on May 27, 2016 and approved by Robert Batterman, Professor of Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh Sheldon Smith, Professor of Philosophy, University of California, Los Angeles Dissertation Advisor: Mark Wilson, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh Dissertation Advisor: James Woodward, Distinguished Professor of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh ii A DEFENSE OF EQUILIBRIUM REASONING IN ECONOMICS Jennifer Jhun, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2016 Copyright © by Jennifer Jhun 2016 iii A DEFENSE OF EQUILIBRIUM REASONING IN ECONOMICS Jennifer Soyun Jhun, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2016 Critics both within and outside of philosophy have challenged economics wholesale as unscientific. In particular, economics seems unable to predict future events because it relies on assumptions like equilibrium conditions, which stipulate that the economy tends to stay in its current state absent external forces. The popular background view that gives rise to this criticism is that the job of science is to uncover laws of nature, by appeal to which we can determine (usually deductively) the future behavior of a dynamical system as it evolves. I argue that lawlike statements in economics have a very different role than this: they provide a means of understanding in terms of how efficient a particular system is. -
Macroscopic Time Evolution and Maxent Inference for Closed
Macroscopic time evolution and MaxEnt inference for closed systems with Hamiltonian dynamics Domagoj Kui´c,∗ Paˇsko Zupanovi´c,ˇ † and Davor Jureti´c‡ University of Split, Faculty of Science, N. Tesle 12, 21000 Split, Croatia Abstract MaxEnt inference algorithm and information theory are relevant for the time evolution of macroscopic systems considered as problem of incomplete information. Two different MaxEnt approaches are introduced in this work, both applied to prediction of time evolution for closed Hamiltonian systems. The first one is based on Liouville equation for the conditional probability distribution, introduced as a strict microscopic constraint on time evolution in phase space. The conditional probability distribution is defined for the set of microstates associated with the set of phase space paths determined by solutions of Hamilton’s equations. The MaxEnt inference algorithm with Shannon’s concept of the conditional information entropy is then applied to prediction, consistently with this strict microscopic constraint on time evolution in phase space. The second approach is based on the same concepts, with a difference that Liouville equation for the conditional probability distribution is introduced as a macroscopic constraint given by a phase space average. We consider the incomplete nature of our information about microscopic dynamics in a rational way that is consistent with Jaynes’ formulation of predictive statistical mechanics, and the concept of macroscopic reproducibility for time dependent processes. Maximization of the conditional information entropy subject to this macroscopic constraint leads to a loss of correlation between the initial phase space paths and final microstates. Information entropy is the theoretic upper bound on the conditional information entropy, with the upper bound attained only in case of the complete loss of correlation. -
Mutual Exclusivity in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Testing the Pragmatic Hypothesis
Mutual Exclusivity in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Testing the Pragmatic Hypothesis The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation De Marchena, Ashley, Inge-Marie Eigsti, Amanda Worek, Kim Emiko Ono, and Jesse Snedeker. 2010. Mutual exclusivity in autism spectrum disorders: testing the pragmatic hypothesis. Cognition 119(1): 96-113. Published Version doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2010.12.011 Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:5132922 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Open Access Policy Articles, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#OAP Mutual Exclusivity 1 Running head: MUTUAL EXCLUSIVITY IN AUTISM Mutual Exclusivity in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Testing the Pragmatic Hypothesis Ashley de Marchena University of Connecticut, Storrs Inge-Marie Eigsti University of Connecticut, Storrs Amanda Worek Harvard University Kim Emiko Ono Harvard University Jesse Snedeker Harvard University Mutual Exclusivity 2 Abstract While there is ample evidence that children treat words as mutually exclusive, the cognitive basis of this bias is widely debated. We focus on the distinction between pragmatic and lexical constraints accounts. High-functioning children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) offer a unique perspective on this debate, as they acquire substantial vocabularies despite impoverished social-pragmatic skills. We tested children and adolescents with ASD in a paradigm examining mutual exclusivity for words and facts. Words were interpreted contrastively more often than facts. Word performance was associated with vocabulary size; fact performance was associated with social-communication skills.