Fewer epistemological challenges for connectionism

Seventeen years ago, John McCarthy wrote the note Epistemological challenges for connectionism as a response to Paul Smolensky’s paper 'On the proper treatment of connectionism'. I will discuss the extent to which the four key challenges put forward by McCarthy have been solved, and what are the new challenges ahead. I argue that there are fewer epistemological challenges for connectionism, but progress has been slow. Nevertheless, there is now strong indication that neural-symbolic integration can provide effective systems of expressive reasoning and robust learning due to the recent developments in the field

Merging fragments of classical logic

We investigate the possibility of extending the non-functionally complete logic of a collection of Boolean connectives by the addition of further Boolean connectives that make the resulting set of connectives functionally complete. More precisely, we will be interested in checking whether an axiomatization for Classical Propositional Logic may be produced by merging Hilbert-style calculi for two disjoint incomplete fragments of it. We will prove that the answer to that problem is a negative one, unless one of the components includes only top-like connectives.Comment: submitted to FroCoS 201

Condition/Decision Duality and the Internal Logic of Extensive Restriction Categories

In flowchart languages, predicates play an interesting double role. In the textual representation, they are often presented as conditions, i.e., expressions which are easily combined with other conditions (often via Boolean combinators) to form new conditions, though they only play a supporting role in aiding branching statements choose a branch to follow. On the other hand, in the graphical representation they are typically presented as decisions, intrinsically capable of directing control flow yet mostly oblivious to Boolean combination. While categorical treatments of flowchart languages are abundant, none of them provide a treatment of this dual nature of predicates. In the present paper, we argue that extensive restriction categories are precisely categories that capture such a condition/decision duality, by means of morphisms which, coincidentally, are also called decisions. Further, we show that having these categorical decisions amounts to having an internal logic: Analogous to how subobjects of an object in a topos form a Heyting algebra, we show that decisions on an object in an extensive restriction category form a De Morgan quasilattice, the algebraic structure associated with the (three-valued) weak Kleene logic $\mathbf{K}^w_3$. Full classical propositional logic can be recovered by restricting to total decisions, yielding extensive categories in the usual sense, and confirming (from a different direction) a result from effectus theory that predicates on objects in extensive categories form Boolean algebras. As an application, since (categorical) decisions are partial isomorphisms, this approach provides naturally reversible models of classical propositional logic and weak Kleene logic.Comment: 19 pages, including 6 page appendix of proofs. Accepted for MFPS XXX

First steps in synthetic guarded domain theory: step-indexing in the topos of trees

We present the topos S of trees as a model of guarded recursion. We study the internal dependently-typed higher-order logic of S and show that S models two modal operators, on predicates and types, which serve as guards in recursive definitions of terms, predicates, and types. In particular, we show how to solve recursive type equations involving dependent types. We propose that the internal logic of S provides the right setting for the synthetic construction of abstract versions of step-indexed models of programming languages and program logics. As an example, we show how to construct a model of a programming language with higher-order store and recursive types entirely inside the internal logic of S. Moreover, we give an axiomatic categorical treatment of models of synthetic guarded domain theory and prove that, for any complete Heyting algebra A with a well-founded basis, the topos of sheaves over A forms a model of synthetic guarded domain theory, generalizing the results for S

Logical Localism in the Context of Combining Logics

[eng] Logical localism is a claim in the philosophy of logic stating that different logics are correct in different domains. There are different ways in which this thesis can be motivated and I will explore the most important ones. However, localism has an obvious and major challenge which is known as ‘the problem of mixed inferences’. The main goal of this dissertation is to solve this challenge and to extend the solution to the related problem of mixed compounds for alethic pluralism. My approach in order to offer a solution is one that has not been considered in the literature as far as I am aware. I will study different methods for combining logics, concentrating on the method of juxtaposition, by Joshua Schechter, and I will try to solve the problem of mixed inferences by making a finer translation of the arguments and using combination mechanisms as the criterion of validity. One of the most intriguing aspects of the dissertation is the synergy that is created between the philosophical debate and the technical methods with the problem of mixed inferences at the center of that synergy. I hope to show that not only the philosophical debate benefits from the methods for combining logics, but also that these methods can be developed in new and interesting ways motivated by the philosophical problem of mixed inferences. The problem suggests that there are relevant interactions between connectives, justified by the philosophical considerations for conceptualising different logic systems, that the methods for combining logics should allow to emerge. The recognition of this fact is what drives the improvements on the method of juxtaposition that I develop. That is, in order to allow for the emergence of desirable interaction principles, I will propose alternative ways of combining logic systems -specifically classical and intuitionistic logics- that go beyond the standard for combinations, which is based on minimality conditions so as to avoid the so-called collapse theorems.[spa] El localismo lógico es una tesis en filosofía de la lógica según la cual diferentes sistemas lógicos son correctos en función del dominio en el que se aplican. Dicha tesis cuenta, prima facie, con cierta plausibilidad y con varios argumentos que la respaldan como mostraré. Sin embargo, el localismo se presta a un evidente y poderoso contraargumento conocido como ‘el problema de las inferencias mixtas’. El objetivo principal de esta disertación es dar respuesta a ese problema y extender la solución al problema afín de los compuestos mixtos que afecta al pluralismo alético. La manera de abordar el problema de las inferencias mixtas consistirá en analizar casos paradigmáticos en la literatura a la luz de los métodos de combinación de lógicas. En concreto, me centraré en el método de la yuxtaposición, desarrollado por Joshua Schechter. Así, ofreceré una solución al problema de las inferencias mixtas que pasará por realizar un análisis más sutil y una formalización más precisa de las mismas, para después aplicar los mecanismos de combinación como criterio de validez. Además, mostraré que el problema de las inferencias mixtas provee de multitud de ejemplos que invitan a desarrollar los métodos de combinación de lógicas de formas novedosas. Una de las aportaciones más relevantes de la disertación consistirá en modificar el método de la yuxtaposición para obtener mecanismos que van más allá del estándar de las extensiones mínimas conservativas. En concreto, propondré diferentes mecanismos para combinar la lógica clásica y la intuicionista, de manera que se permita la aparición de distintos principios puente para los que tenemos buenas razones que los justifican, sin que ello conduzca al colapso de las lógicas que se combinan

Logical Localism in the Context of Combining Logics

Programa de Doctorat en Ciència Cognitiva i Llenguatge[eng] Logical localism is a claim in the philosophy of logic stating that different logics are correct in different domains. There are different ways in which this thesis can be motivated and I will explore the most important ones. However, localism has an obvious and major challenge which is known as ‘the problem of mixed inferences’. The main goal of this dissertation is to solve this challenge and to extend the solution to the related problem of mixed compounds for alethic pluralism. My approach in order to offer a solution is one that has not been considered in the literature as far as I am aware. I will study different methods for combining logics, concentrating on the method of juxtaposition, by Joshua Schechter, and I will try to solve the problem of mixed inferences by making a finer translation of the arguments and using combination mechanisms as the criterion of validity. One of the most intriguing aspects of the dissertation is the synergy that is created between the philosophical debate and the technical methods with the problem of mixed inferences at the center of that synergy. I hope to show that not only the philosophical debate benefits from the methods for combining logics, but also that these methods can be developed in new and interesting ways motivated by the philosophical problem of mixed inferences. The problem suggests that there are relevant interactions between connectives, justified by the philosophical considerations for conceptualising different logic systems, that the methods for combining logics should allow to emerge. The recognition of this fact is what drives the improvements on the method of juxtaposition that I develop. That is, in order to allow for the emergence of desirable interaction principles, I will propose alternative ways of combining logic systems -specifically classical and intuitionistic logics- that go beyond the standard for combinations, which is based on minimality conditions so as to avoid the so-called collapse theorems.[spa] El localismo lógico es una tesis en filosofía de la lógica según la cual diferentes sistemas lógicos son correctos en función del dominio en el que se aplican. Dicha tesis cuenta, prima facie, con cierta plausibilidad y con varios argumentos que la respaldan como mostraré. Sin embargo, el localismo se presta a un evidente y poderoso contraargumento conocido como ‘el problema de las inferencias mixtas’. El objetivo principal de esta disertación es dar respuesta a ese problema y extender la solución al problema afín de los compuestos mixtos que afecta al pluralismo alético. La manera de abordar el problema de las inferencias mixtas consistirá en analizar casos paradigmáticos en la literatura a la luz de los métodos de combinación de lógicas. En concreto, me centraré en el método de la yuxtaposición, desarrollado por Joshua Schechter. Así, ofreceré una solución al problema de las inferencias mixtas que pasará por realizar un análisis más sutil y una formalización más precisa de las mismas, para después aplicar los mecanismos de combinación como criterio de validez. Además, mostraré que el problema de las inferencias mixtas provee de multitud de ejemplos que invitan a desarrollar los métodos de combinación de lógicas de formas novedosas. Una de las aportaciones más relevantes de la disertación consistirá en modificar el método de la yuxtaposición para obtener mecanismos que van más allá del estándar de las extensiones mínimas conservativas. En concreto, propondré diferentes mecanismos para combinar la lógica clásica y la intuicionista, de manera que se permita la aparición de distintos principios puente para los que tenemos buenas razones que los justifican, sin que ello conduzca al colapso de las lógicas que se combinan

Handling Fibred Algebraic Effects

International audienceWe study algebraic computational effects and their handlers in the dependently typed setting. We describecomputational effects using a generalisation of Plotkin and Pretnar’s effect theories, whose dependentlytyped operations allow us to capture precise notions of computation, e.g., state with location-dependent storetypes and dependently typed update monads. Our treatment of handlers is based on an observation that theirconventional term-level definition leads to unsound program equivalences being derivable in languages thatinclude a notion of homomorphism. We solve this problem by giving handlers a novel type-based treatmentvia a new computation type, the user-defined algebra type, which pairs a value type (the carrier) with a set ofvalue terms (the operations), capturing Plotkin and Pretnar’s insight that effect handlers denote algebras. Wethen show that the conventional presentation of handlers can be routinely derived, and demonstrate that thistype-based treatment of handlers provides a useful mechanism for reasoning about effectful computations.We also equip the resulting language with a sound denotational semantics based on families fibrations

A History of Until

Until is a notoriously difficult temporal operator as it is both existential and universal at the same time: A until B holds at the current time instant w iff either B holds at w or there exists a time instant w' in the future at which B holds and such that A holds in all the time instants between the current one and w'. This "ambivalent" nature poses a significant challenge when attempting to give deduction rules for until. In this paper, in contrast, we make explicit this duality of until to provide well-behaved natural deduction rules for linear-time logics by introducing a new temporal operator that allows us to formalize the "history" of until, i.e., the "internal" universal quantification over the time instants between the current one and w'. This approach provides the basis for formalizing deduction systems for temporal logics endowed with the until operator. For concreteness, we give here a labeled natural deduction system for a linear-time logic endowed with the new operator and show that, via a proper translation, such a system is also sound and complete with respect to the linear temporal logic LTL with until.Comment: 24 pages, full version of paper at Methods for Modalities 2009 (M4M-6