REDUX: A system for the reduction of cases

Abstract

Redux is a system for making generalizations from cases - case histories, case studies, legal cases, medical cases, etc. It is a system for reduction, i.e., it searches for repeated patterns, particularly patterns involving the circumstances of types by using a logic different from set logic. The predicates that Redux examines have active verbs and types that are common nouns and are the arguments of active verbs. Redux uses a taxonomy of verbs in which each element of a taxon is a specification of a general verb. It also uses a taxonomy in which types (common nouns) are grouped according to their definitional roles with general verbs. Redux also uses a verb hierarchy in which verb taxa are grouped into levels which are distinguished by restrictions of causation. Effective contexts, formed from cases from their topic predicates, are composed of predicates which are linked through circumstances. In these contexts, predicates at higher levels subsume those at lower levels. Using general predicates, the verb hierarchy, and effective contexts, Redux answers the questions “What happened?” and “How did it happen?” for a set of cases with a single topic. Redux is presented as a metalanguage for the analysis of the behavior of types. Questions of feasibility with regard to its implementation as a system are broached, the grammar and logic which Redux uses are described, and a demonstration of its use is presented.