31 research outputs found

    Meinongian Semantics and Artificial Intelligence

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    This essay describes computational semantic networks for a philosophical audience and surveys several approaches to semantic-network semantics. In particular, propositional semantic networks (exemplified by SNePS) are discussed; it is argued that only a fully intensional, Meinongian semantics is appropriate for them; and several Meinongian systems are presented

    Logical foundations for belief representation

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    Type theoretic semantics for semantic networks: an application to natural language engineering

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    Semantic Networks have long been recognised as an important tool for natural language processing. This research has been a formal analysis of a semantic network using constructive type theory. The particular net studied is SemNet, the internal knowledge representation for LOLITA(^1): a large scale natural language engineering system. SemNet has been designed with large scale, efficiency, integration and expressiveness in mind. It supports many different forms of plausible and valid reasoning, including: epistemic reasoning, causal reasoning and inheritance. The unified theory of types (UTT) integrates two well known type theories, Coquand-Huet's (impredicative) calculus of constructions and Martin-Lof's (predicative) type theory. The result is a strong and expressive language which has been used for formalization of mathematics, program specification and natural language. Motivated by the computational and richly expressive nature of UTT, this research has used it for formalization and semantic analysis of SemNet. Moreover, because of applications to software engineering, type checkers/proof assistants have been built. These tools are ideal for organising and managing the analysis of SemNet. The contribution of the work is twofold. First the semantic model built has led to improved and deeper understanding of SemNet. This is important as many researchers that work on different aspects of LOLITA, now have a clear and un- ambigious interpertation of the meaning of SemNet constructs. The model has also been used to show soundess of the valid reasoning and to give a reasonable semantic account of epistemic reasoning. Secondly the research contributes to NLE generally, both because it demonstrates that UTT is a useful formalization tool and that the good aspects of SemNet have been formally presented

    From Biological to Synthetic Neurorobotics Approaches to Understanding the Structure Essential to Consciousness (Part 3)

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    This third paper locates the synthetic neurorobotics research reviewed in the second paper in terms of themes introduced in the first paper. It begins with biological non-reductionism as understood by Searle. It emphasizes the role of synthetic neurorobotics studies in accessing the dynamic structure essential to consciousness with a focus on system criticality and self, develops a distinction between simulated and formal consciousness based on this emphasis, reviews Tani and colleagues' work in light of this distinction, and ends by forecasting the increasing importance of synthetic neurorobotics studies for cognitive science and philosophy of mind going forward, finally in regards to most- and myth-consciousness

    Belief ascription, metaphor, and intensional identification

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    This paper discusses the extension of ViewGen, an algorithm derived for belief ascription, to the areas of speech acts, intensional object representation and metaphor. ViewGen represents the beliefs of agents as explicit, partitioned proposition-sets known as environments. Environments are convenient, even essential, for addressing important pragmatic issues of rea-soning. The paper concentrates on showing that the transfer of information in metaphors, intensional object representation, and ordinary, non-metaphorical belief ascription can all be seen as different manifestations of a single environment-amalgamation process. The paper also briefly discusses the addition of a heuristic-based relevance-determination procedure to ViewGen, and justifies the partitioning approach to belief ascription. 1

    Computers Are Syntax All the Way Down: Reply to Bozşahin

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