Inconsistency and plausible reasoning in an analysis of German affricates: A case study in the philosophy of linguistics

Kertész, András; Rákosi, Csilla

doi:10.1016/j.langsci.2005.03.002

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Should our approach turn out to be tenable, later refinements in the light of recent advances will be both possible and necessary. 9 For a considerably more comprehensive discussion of our approach see Kertész (2004b); Kertész -Rákosi (2005a) and Rákosi (2005).…”

Section: Basic Assumptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since, as we have seen in (vi) in section 2.1, the conclusion of plausible inferences is not true with certainty, but only more or less credible; new information may turn up any time and can undermine our trust in the conclusions, compelling us to reconsider the situation at issue and to revise both the premises and the inferences from them. It is one of the most attractive impacts of plausibility theory that it is capable of accounting for these mechanisms (see Kertész 2004b, chapter 22;Kertész-Rákosi 2005a and Rákosi 2005 for detailed discussion). Now, the emergence of inconsistencies is one important property of the cognitive basis of pragmatic principles as well:…”

Section: On the Correlation Between Plausible Inferences And The Cognmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Argument 1 examines the products of reasoning; it handles inferences as being static representations of reports 26 See Kertész (2004a;b); Kertész -Rákosi (2005a);Rákosi (2005).…”

Section: On (S1 )mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Remarks on the cognitive base of pragmatic principles

Kertész¹,

Rákosi²

2005

Acta Linguistica Hungarica

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The present paper aims at the exemplification of the applicability of plausibility analysis to linguistics. Starting from the criticism of Robinson (1997), the paper argues for two assumptions. Firstly, as opposed to a theory of distributed systems, it is a theory of plausible reasoning that is capable of capturing basic methodological problems of theory formation in pragmatics (such as circularity, category error, the arbitrariness of interpretations of data and the objectification of the theorist's cultural and linguistic knowledge as principles of language behaviour). Secondly, the cognitive base of pragmatic principles is inferential and plausibilistic, rather than non-inferential and probabilistic.

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Section: Basic Assumptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: On the Correlation Between Plausible Inferences And The Cognmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Remarks on the cognitive base of pragmatic principles

Kertész¹,

Rákosi²

2005

Acta Linguistica Hungarica

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“…24 Thirdly, this kind of effectivity is closely connected to their heuristic function. As is well-known, demonstrative inferences are not suitable for bringing about decisions between alternative solutions to a given problem 23 For more detailed discussions of our approach to plausible inferences with special focus on inconsistency, see Kertész (2004b), Kertész -Rákosi (2005b), Rákosi (2005). The following considerations are a brief summary of section 2 in Kertész -Rákosi (2005c).…”

Section: On (P2a): Plausible and Demonstrative Inferences 23mentioning

confidence: 99%

Whole-part and part-whole inferences in generative and cognitive linguistics

Kertész¹,

Rákosi²

2005

Acta Linguistica Hungarica

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The paper focuses on the relation between the analytical philosophy of science and modular and holistic approaches to cognitive linguistics, respectively. The authors show that Chomsky's as well as Bierwisch & Lang's and Lakoff & Johnson's approaches make substantial use of non-demonstrative inferences which the standard view of the analytical philosophy of science evaluates as fallacies. By outlining a metatheoretical framework focusing on plausible inferences, the authors argue that the inferences the theories mentioned make use of are plausible rather than fallacious. This finding illuminates basic aspects of theory formation in linguistics and motivates the revaluation of the methodological foundations of linguistic theories.

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“…Her main hypothesis is that the differences between syntactic theories result basically from different strategies of inconsistency-resolution. Another approach was put forward in, among others, Kertész (2004), and Kertész & Rákosi (2006, 2012. In the present paper we want to relate the two approaches in the following way: the starting point for our case study will be one of Moravcsik's (2006: 47 ff.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paraconsistency and Plausible Argumentation in Generative Grammar: A Case Study

Kertész

Rákosi

2013

J of Log Lang and Inf

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While the analytical philosophy of science regards inconsistent theories as disastrous, Chomsky allows for the temporary tolerance of inconsistency between the hypotheses and the data. However, in linguistics there seem to be several types of inconsistency. The present paper aims at the development of a novel metatheoretical framework which provides tools for the representation and evaluation of inconsistencies in linguistic theories. The metatheoretical model relies on a system of paraconsistent logic and distinguishes between strong and weak inconsistency. Strong inconsistency is destructive in that it leads to logical chaos. In contrast, weak inconsistency may be constructive, because it is capable of accounting for the simultaneous presence of seemingly incompatible structures. However, paraconsistent logic cannot grasp the dynamism of the emergence and resolution of weak inconsistencies. Therefore, the metatheoretical approach is extended to plausible argumentation. The workability of this metatheoretical model is tested with the help of a detailed case study on an analysis of discontinuous constituents in Government-Binding Theory.

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Inconsistency and plausible reasoning in an analysis of German affricates: A case study in the philosophy of linguistics

Cited by 7 publications

References 25 publications

Remarks on the cognitive base of pragmatic principles

Remarks on the cognitive base of pragmatic principles

Whole-part and part-whole inferences in generative and cognitive linguistics

Paraconsistency and Plausible Argumentation in Generative Grammar: A Case Study

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