Think Generic! The Meaning and Use of Generic Sentences

Ariel Cohen

ISBN 10: 1575862085 / ISBN 13: 9781575862088

Verlag: Stanford Univ Center for the Study, 1999

Beschreibung

224 pages. 9.25x6.25x0.50 inches. In Stock. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers __1575862085

Bibliografische Details

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

Verlag: Stanford Univ Center for the Study

Erscheinungsdatum: 1999

Einband: Paperback

Zustand: Brand New

Über diesen Titel

Inhaltsangabe:

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.

Reseña del editor:

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.