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A Theory of Contextual Propositions for Indicatives

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Modeling and Using Context (CONTEXT 2003)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 2680))

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Abstract

A theory of contextual propositions for indicative conditionals is presented. The main challenge is to give a precise account of how the dynamics of possible worlds depends on epistemic context. Robert Stalnaker suggested in [Stalnaker 84] that even when selection functions for evaluating indicatives cannot be defined in terms of epistemic context, they can be importantly constrained by a principle of context dependency that we adopt here. In addition, we show how to define a gradation of possibilities for each point in an epistemic context by taking into account a proposal first introduced by Wolfgang Spohn in [Spohn 87] and later refined by Darwiche and Pearl in [Darwiche & Pearl 97]. The resulting theory of contextual propositions (unlike some alternative views) is shown to be compatible with basic qualitative consequences of the Bayesian principle of conditionalization (which is frequently used in probabilistic semantics for indicative conditionals).

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA

    Horacio Arló Costa

Authors
  1. Horacio Arló Costa
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. INRIA Lorraine, 615, rue du Jardin Botanique, 54602, Villers les Nancy Cedex, France

    Patrick Blackburn

  2. Department of Computer Science, University of Liverpool, Chadwick Building, Peach Street, Liverpool, L69 7ZF, UK

    Chiara Ghidini

  3. Department of Computer Science, University of Maine, 5752 Neville Hall, Orono, ME, 04469-5752, USA

    Roy M. Turner

  4. Department of Information and Communication Technology, University of Trento, 38050, Povo, Trento, Italy

    Fausto Giunchiglia

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Costa, H.A. (2003). A Theory of Contextual Propositions for Indicatives. In: Blackburn, P., Ghidini, C., Turner, R.M., Giunchiglia, F. (eds) Modeling and Using Context. CONTEXT 2003. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 2680. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-44958-2_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-44958-2_2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-40380-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-44958-4

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