Between logic and the world : an integrated theory of generics / Bernhard Nickel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nickel, Bernhard, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Genericalness (Linguistics).

Language and languages--Philosophy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (vi, 277 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

Between logic & the world

Integrated theory of generics

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2016.

Summary:

In our everyday thought and talk, we put things into categories in order to generalize about them: 'Lions have manes', 'Ravens are black'. Bernhard Nickel presents a theory of generic sentences and the modes of thought they express, integrating compositional semantics with metaphysics to solve the problems of what they mean and how they work.

Contents:

1. Introduction

1.1. Two Conceptions of Kinds

1.2. First Glance at the Theory

1.3. Generics and the Viability of Formal Semantics

1.4. Note to the Reader

2. Genericity and Generics

2.1. Genericity and Generics

2.2. Range of Data

2.3. Skeptical Worries: Loose Talk

2.4. Semantics

2.5. Summary

pt. I Semantics

3. Basic Semantics

3.1. Normality

3.2. Respects

3.3. Ways

3.4. Modal Import

3.5. Logic of Generics: Kind Percolation

3.6. Summary

4. Other Recent Work

4.1. Primitive Projective Propensities (Leslie)

4.2. Probabilities (Cohen)

4.3. Vagueness and Modality (Greenberg)

4.4. Natural-Historical Judgments (Thompson)

4.5. Summary

5. Logical Complexity

5.1. And

5.2. Not and Homogeneity

5.3. Or

5.4. Summary

6. Genericity and Gradability

6.1. Good

6.2. Better

6.3. Defending the Truth-Conditions

6.4. Patterns in the Data

6.5. Cohen and Relative Generics

6.6. Summary

pt. II Normality

7. Definition of Normality

7.1. Characteristic Properties

7.2. Mechanisms and the Transition to Normality

7.3. Kind-Derived Groups

7.4. Raw Materials for Semantic Interactions

7.5. Summary

8. Linguistics

A Case Study

8.1. Three Conceptions of the Subject Matter of Linguistics

8.2. Deference

8.3. Summary

9. Coda: Onward, Upward, Inward, Outward

pt. III Appendices

A. Formal Results and Implementations

B. Detailed Presentation of Free Choice Inferences.

Notes:

This edition previously issued in print: 2016.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from home page (viewed on April 26, 2016).

ISBN:

0-19-182204-3