Presupposition projection as proof construction

Even though Van der Sandt's presuppositions as anaphora approach is empirically successful, it fails to give a formal account of the interaction between world-knowledge and presuppositions. In this paper, an algorithm is sketched which is based on the idea of presuppositions as anaphora. It improves on this approach by employing a deductive system, Constructive Type Theory (CTT), to get a formal handle on the way world-knowledge influences presupposition projection. In CTT, proofs for expressions are explicitly represented as objects. These objects can be seen as a generalization of DRT's discourse markers. They are useful in dealing with presuppositional phenomena which require world-knowledge, such as Clark's bridging examples and Beaver's conditional presuppositions

Bargaining and Influence in Conflict Situations

[Excerpt] This chapter examines bargaining as an influence process through which actors attempt to resolve a social conflict. Conflict occurs when two or more interdependent actors have incompatible preferences and perceive or anticipate resistance from each other (Blalock 1989; Kriesberg 1982). Bargaining is a basic form of goal-directed action that involves both intentions to influence and efforts by each actor to carry out these intentions. Tactics are verbal and/or nonverbal actions designed to maneuver oneself into a favorable position vis-a-vis another or to reach some accommodation. Our treatment of bargaining subsumes the concept of negotiation (see Morley and Stephenson 1977). This chapter is organized around a conceptual framework that distinguishes basic types of bargaining contexts. We begin by introducing the framework and then present an overview of and analyze theoretical and empirical work on each type of bargaining context

Presuppositions in Context: Constructing Bridges

About the book: The First International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Modelling and Using Context, Rio de Janeiro, January 1997, gave rise to the present book, which contains a selection of the papers presented there, thoroughly refereed and revised. The treatment of contexts as bona fide objects of logical formalisation has gained wide acceptance, following the seminal impetus given by McCarthy in his Turing Award address. The field of natural language offers a particularly rich variety of examples and challenges to researchers concerned with the formal modelling of context, and several chapters in the volume deal with contextualisation in the setting of natural language. Others adopt a purely formal-logical viewpoint, seeking to develop general models of even wider applicability. The 12 chapters are organised in three groups: formalisation of contextual information in natural language understanding and generation, the application of context in mechanised reasoning domains, and novel non-classical logics for contextual application

Authority and Inclusion: Reconsidering Integration in a Fragmented Age

This paper explores the meaning of refugee integration in a fragmented age where multi-culturalism is said to be dead. It focuses on the results of recent research in four cities in South and East Africa, which showed an increasing tendency towards new forms of association that the author termed “communities of convenience”. The author reflects upon the lessons that these highly mobile African urban contexts offer for refugee integration in Britain

Human Security: Does Normative Europe Need a New Strategic Narrative?

Alongside a sustained debate about the role of the EU in the international system and the nature of its power as an external actor, foreign and security policy making continues to reflect an awkward mixture of civilian, military and normative instruments, and ambiguous goals. The European Security Strategy of 2003 and the drive, via ESDP, to make the EU respond more effectively to crises, are the most systematic attempts yet to resolve this incoherence and to project the EU as a different kind of international actor by deploying an integrated range of civilian and military capabilities and resources. This paper examines whether the EU also needs a new conceptual framework for its international presence which can organise and improve the integration of its civilian and military characteristics , and at the same time express to both its own citizens and the outside world, the values and goals which underpin its external action. The paper takes the concept of Human Security and explores whether a Human Security doctrine could provide a shared strategic narrative for the EU which would serve to clarify and consolidate the nature of EU actorness. The paper takes the example of the EU mission to DR Congo in 2006 to show how a Human Security doctrine could provide conceptual coherence to the exercise of EU external power

Conflict resolution: the missing link between liberal international relations theory and realistic practice

This Handbook is a collection of works from leading scholars in the Conflict Analysis and Resolution (CAR) field, all working from their own disciplines yet cognizant of the multidisciplinary nature of that field. The central theme is the value of interdisciplinary approaches to the analysis and resolution of conflicts. This approach consists of moving from the study of analytical approaches to understanding the deep-rooted causes of conflict to third-party intervention approaches to prevent or end violence and resolve conflict