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OverviewOur 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. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Ariel Cohen (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel)Publisher: Centre for the Study of Language & Information Imprint: Centre for the Study of Language & Information Dimensions: Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.40cm , Length: 22.80cm Weight: 0.312kg ISBN: 9781575862088ISBN 10: 1575862085 Pages: 222 Publication Date: 28 June 1999 Audience: Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: Out of stock The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available. Table of ContentsReviewsAuthor InformationTab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |