Eli Dresner

Holism, Language Acquisition, and Algebraic Logic

In the first section of this paper I present a well known objection to meaning holism, according to which holism is inconsistent with natural language being learnable. Then I show that the objection fails if language acquisition includes stages of partial grasp of the meaning of at least some expressions, and I argue that standard model theoretic semantics cannot fully capture such stages. In the second section the above claims are supported through a review of current research into language acquisition. Finally, in the third section it is argued that contemporary algebraic logical systems consist in a superior formal vehicle through which to capture stages of partial grasp of meaning; this claim is supported by concrete examples.

Emoticons and Illocutionary Force

The term “emoticons” short for “emotion icons” refers to graphic signs, such as the smiley face, that often accompany computer-mediated textual communication. They are most often characterized as iconic indicators of emotion, conveyed through a communication channel that is parallel to the linguistic one. In this chapter, it is argued that this conception of emoticons fails to account for some of their important uses. We present a brief outline of speech act theory and use it to provide a complementary account of emoticons, according to which they also function as indicators of illocutionary force. We conclude by considering how our analysis bears upon broader questions concerning language, bodily behavior, and text.

Over-assignment of structure

Twenty is two times ten. The length of a body of 20 centimeters is twice the length of a 10 centimeter body. But is the temperature of a body at 20 degrees centigrade two times the temperature of a body at 10 degrees centigrade? No, it is not. This is easy to see by converting the temperatures into Fahrenheit: 20 degrees centigrade is 68 degrees Fahrenheit; 10 degrees centigrade is 50 degrees Fahrenheit; and thus the first temperature is no longer two times the other. As these are the same two temperatures that are being measured, each time in a different scale, we conclude that there is just no fact of the matter in the temperature reality of one body’s temperature being x times the temperature of the other.1

A measurement theoretic account of propositions

In the first section of this paper I review Measurement Theoretic Semantics – an approach to formal semantics modeled after the application of numbers in measurement, e.g., of length. In the second section it is argued that the measurement theoretic approach to semantics yields a novel, useful conception of propositions. In the third section the measurement theoretic view of propositions is compared with major other accounts of propositional content.

MEASUREMENT THEORETIC SEMANTICS AND THE SEMANTICS OF NECESSITY

In the first two sections I present and motivate a formal semantics program that is modeled after the application of numbers in measurement (e.g., of length). Then, in the main part of the paper, I use the suggested framework to give an account of the semantics of necessity and possibility: (i) I show thatthe measurement theoretic framework is consistent with a robust (non-Quinean) view of modal logic, (ii) I give an account of the semantics of the modal notions within this framework, and (iii) I defend the suggested account against various objections.

Effects of Visual Spatial Structure on Textual Conversational Multitasking

Textual computer-mediated communication gives rise to conversational multitasking—participation in several concomitant synchronous textual conversations. This study examined how this communication competence is affected by several visual parameters—the distance between conversation windows, number of windows, and window size. Results show that comprehension of concomitant textual conversations is not affected by the distance between conversation windows, and that the advantage of separating conversation threads into distinct windows is greater when overall window size is larger. This study considers the implications and applications of these results to communicative multitasking phenomena, in general, which become prevalent in technologically advanced societies.

Effective Memory' and Turing's model of mind

In the first section of his celebrated 1936 paper A. Turing says of the machines he defines that at each stage of their operation they can ‘effectively remember’ some of the symbols they have scanned before. In this paper I explicate the motivation and content of this remark of Turings, and argue that it reveals what could be labeled as a connectionist conception of the human mind.

Time to reinspect the foundations

Questioning if computer science is outgrowing its traditional foundations.

Turing, Matthews and Millikan: Effective Memory, Dispositionalism and Pushmepullyou Mental States

Abstract In the first section of the paper I present Alan Turing’s notion of effective memory, as it appears in his 1936 paper ‘On Computable Numbers, With an Application to The Entscheidungsproblem’. This notion stands in surprising contrast with the way memory is usually thought of in the context of contemporary computer science. Turing’s view (in 1936) is that for a computing machine to remember a previously scanned string of symbols is not to store an internal symbolic image of this string. Rather, memory consists in the fact that the past scanning of the string affects the behavior of the computer in the face of potential future inputs. In the second, central section of the paper I begin exploring how this view of Turing’s bears upon contemporary discussions in the philosophy of mind. In particular, I argue that Turing’s approach can be used to lend support to dispositional conceptions of the propositional attitudes, like the one recently presented by Matthews (2007), and that his effective memory manifests some of the characteristics of Millikan’s (1996) pushmepullyou mental states.

Middle Region Phenomena And Globalization

The objective of this article is to apply the theoretical framework of Joshua Meyrowitz’s No Sense of Place to the domain of contemporary world politics. In the first section, several of Meyrowitz’s main theses are reviewed and the notions of middle region and sidestage are defined. In the second section, Meyrowitz’s conceptualization is shown to be applicable to the contemporary global political system, and in the third section the notions of middle region and sidestage are used to analyse several types of phenomena in the world political arena. Among the examples discussed are: political expression that addresses distinct audiences at the same time, the manoeuvring of local representatives of international NGOs between the intra-and international arenas, and the ‘War against Terrorism’ as a hybrid exertion of force.