Interface Of Logic Research Articles

Committed Actors, Institutional Complexity, and Pathways to Compromise: The Emergence of Islamic Banking in Germany

AbstractThe formation of the first Islamic bank in Germany in 2015 came with considerable tensions at the interface of the religious logic, on the one hand, and the state logic, on the other. With the Islamic religious logic being novel to the German field of banking and finance, innovative templates were established to deal effectively with the resulting tensions and conflicts. Drawing on qualitative data, we investigate how the bank, with its strong commitment to Islam, navigated such novel institutional complexity and the challenges stemming from the jurisdictional overlap. We identify four distinct compromise mechanisms in this institutionally complex situation, in which a committed actor prioritizes one logic over another: explaining, convincing, conceding and suspending. Importantly, as options, these mechanisms are situated in a cascading order of preference for the focal actor. More generally, our research posits that in any encounter between institutional logics in which the specific instantiation of a logic stems from a foreign interinstitutional system, the resulting novel institutional complexity may necessitate the development of innovative templates which, at the same time, may imply ‘stretching’ an institutional logic and, in consequence, impact the compatibility of its jurisdictional claims.

Absentees: On Variously Missing Persons. Daniel Heller-Roazen. New York: Zone Books, 2021. Pp. 317.

<i>Absentees: On Variously Missing Persons</i>. Daniel Heller-Roazen. New York: Zone Books, 2021. Pp. 317.

Critical Thinking Against Pseudoscience

This review article analyses the literature on critical thinking and pseudoscience and characterises critical thinking as an instance of scientific thinking and a tool for the criticism of pseudoscience. The authors of the review work on the assumption, first made in a 1998 presentation, that critical thinking lies at the interface of logic and anthropology. The concept of critical thinking is shown to be widely used of late in the Russian and international discourse on research and education. The term also frequently occurs in public statements by politicians, economists, lawyers, and even members of the clergy and the army. An emphasis is placed on critical thinking being a value of society in and of itself, which should be considered along three dimensions, namely as a philosophical concept, a methodological approach based on that concept, and an academic discipline either independent or embedded in some other subject area. Sources in the references aid in analysing each of these dimensions. The section dealing with critical thinking in its relation to pseudoscience surveys various approaches to demarcating and defining pseudoscience and gives an overview of the literature analysing the role of critical thinking in detecting and fighting pseudoscience and fakes in science. This analytical review of works on critical thinking and its role in distinguishing science and pseudoscience is concise compared to the almost inexhaustible body of literature on the topic. Yet, it demonstrates the importance of the subject matter for Russian and international research.

From Generative Linguistics to Categorial Grammars: Overt Subjects in Control Infinitives

AbstractThe present thesis lies at the interface of logic and linguistics; its object of study are control sentences with overt pronouns in Romance languages (European and Brazilian Portuguese, Italian and Spanish). This is a topic that has received considerably more attention on the part of linguists, especially in recent years, than from logicians. Perhaps for this reason, much remains to be understood about these linguistic structures and their underlying logical properties. This thesis seeks to fill the lacunas in the literature or at least take steps in this direction by way of addressing a number of issues that have so far been under-explored. To this end, we put forward two key questions, one linguistic and the other logical. These are, respectively, (1) What is the syntactic status of the surface pronoun? and (2) What are the available mechanisms to reuse semantic resources in a contraction-free logical grammar? Accordingly, the thesis is divided into two parts: generative linguistics and categorial grammar. Part I starts by reviewing the recent discussion within the generative literature on infinitive clauses with overt subjects, paying detailed attention to the main accounts in the field. Part II does the same on the logical grammar front, addressing in particular the issues of control and of anaphoric pronouns. Ultimately, the leading accounts from both camps will be found wanting. The closing chapter of each of Part I and Part II will thus put forward alternative candidates, that we contend are more successful than their predecessors. More specifically, in Part I, we offer a linguistic account along the lines of Landau’s T/Agr theory of control. In Part II, we present two alternative categorial accounts: one based on Combinatory Categorial Grammar, the other on Type-Logical Grammar. Each of these accounts offers an improved, more fine-grained perspective on control infinitives featuring overt pronominal subjects. Finally, we include an Appendix in which our type-logical proposal is implemented in a categorial parser/theorem-prover.Abstract prepared by María Inés Corbalán.E-mail: inescorbalan@yahoo.com.arURL: http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/331697

Andreas Jaszlinsky versus Aristotle : the interface of facts and logic: reflections on the Origin of Life in the work of the Trnava Jesuit in the 18th century

Andreas Jaszlinsky versus Aristotle : the interface of facts and logic: reflections on the Origin of Life in the work of the Trnava Jesuit in the 18th century

Implementation of Artificial Neural Fuzzy Inference System in a Real Time Fire Detection Mechanism

This paper proposes a hardware model that provides new fire detection and control mechanism with the interface of artificial neural network and fuzzy logic. This work is based on the integration of hardware module and implementation of artificial neural fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). The hardware consists of temperature sensor, smoke sensor, flame detector and a microcontroller unit. The sensors sense the environment and send data to microcontroller for further processing. Here the microcontroller will work as a control unit. The hardware model of the system also consists of the GSM module for sending the warning message if severe fire exists, and a GPS module in order to indicate the fire location. This technique expresses the idea of implementing Fuzzy logic on the real time data which is collected by the sensors. The system aims to predict fire danger by sensing various parameters i.e. smoke, temperature etc. at the early stage. Artificial neural fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) has been utilized in order to enhance the reliability and certainty of real time fire detection mechanism and to reduce the false alarm rates. The system will focus on collection of data from sensors, data fusion through fuzzy logic and quantification of fire warning level. This neural network based fire alarm system can fuse a variety of data set obtained from sensors and also provide the improved ability to adapt in the environment and predict fire in an accurate manner, which has great significance for the safety of human lives as well as property.

Prior’s tonk, notions of logic, and levels of inconsistency: vindicating the pluralistic unity of science in the light of categorical logical positivism

There are still on-going debates on what exactly is wrong with Prior’s pathological “tonk.” In this article I argue, on the basis of categorical inferentialism, that (i) two notions of inconsistency ought to be distinguished in an appropriate account of tonk; (ii) logic with tonk is inconsistent as the theory of propositions, and it is due to the fallacy of equivocation; (iii) in contrast to this diagnosis of the Prior’s tonk problem, nothing is actually wrong with tonk if logic is viewed as the theory of proofs rather than propositions, and tonk perfectly makes sense in terms of the identity of proofs. Indeed, there is fully complete semantics of proofs for tonk, which allows us to link the Prior’s old philosophical idea with contemporary issues at the interface of categorical logic, computer science, and quantum physics, and thereby to expose commonalities between the laws of Reason and the laws of Nature, which are what logic and physics are respectively about. I conclude the article by articulating the ideas of categorical logical positivism and pluralistic unified science as its goal, including the unification of realist and antirealist conceptions of meaning by virtue of the categorical logical basis of metaphysics.

The Contributions of Logic to the Foundations of Physics: Foreword

This special issue on The Contributions of Logic to the Foundations of Physics, is the result of the sixth International Studia Logica Conference Trends in Logic VI held in Brussels on December 11-12, 2008. The conference was organized by the Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science and the Center Leo Apostel at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in cooperation with the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The main goal of this conference was to present current trends situated at the interface of Logic and the Foundations of Physics. The conference brought together researchers from both fields, giving them a forum to present new developments, exchange ideas, explore and establish new connections between logic and physics. On the one hand, we hosted technical contributions on the use of new methods and techniques coming from logic, computation and information theory to axiomatize and model physical theories and to reason about their concepts, phenomena and/or applications. On the other hand, we hosted contributions coming from the foundations and philosophy of physics dealing with the general conceptual framework and with questions of interpretation. The conference was a success with 56 registered participants, 7 invited lectures and two full parallel sessions of contributed talks spread over two days. Following the conference we launched a call for papers of which this special issue is the result. We invited contributions on the theme of the Trends VI conference, including on the following topics:

Abduction at the interface of Logic and Philosophy of Science

Despite their growing separation over the years, logic and philosophy of science should still be allies pursuing an agenda of rational agency ranging from specific mechanisms like abduction to the broader study of reasoning, belief revision, learning, and intelligent interaction.

ERRATUM: "RATIONAL DYNAMICS AND EPISTEMIC LOGIC IN GAMES"

Game-theoretic solution concepts describe sets of strategy profiles that are optimal for all players in some plausible sense. Such sets are often found by recursive algorithms like iterated removal of strictly dominated strategies in strategic games, or backward induction in extensive games. Standard logical analyses of solution sets use assumptions about players in fixed epistemic models for a given game, such as mutual knowledge of rationality. In this paper, we propose a different perspective, analyzing solution algorithms as processes of learning which change game models. Thus, strategic equilibrium gets linked to fixed-points of operations of repeated announcement of suitable epistemic statements. This dynamic stance provides a new look at the current interface of games, logic, and computation.

RATIONAL DYNAMICS AND EPISTEMIC LOGIC IN GAMES

Game-theoretic solution concepts describe sets of strategy profiles that are optimal for all players in some plausible sense. Such sets are often found by recursive algorithms like iterated removal of strictly dominated strategies in strategic games, or backward induction in extensive games. Standard logical analyses of solution sets use assumptions about players in fixed epistemic models for a given game, such as mutual knowledge of rationality. In this paper, we propose a different perspective, analyzing solution algorithms as processes of learning which change game models. Thus, strategic equilibrium gets linked to fixed-points of operations of repeated announcement of suitable epistemic statements. This dynamic stance provides a new look at the current interface of games, logic, and computation.

Socio-cognitive mechanisms of belief change: Applications of generalized game theory to belief revision, social fabrication, and self-fulfilling prophesy

In this article, generalized game theory (GGT) is used to conceptualize and explain key socio-cognitive processes in multi-agent interaction, in particular belief revision. GGT is based on the mathematics of rules and rule complexes (drawing on developments at the interface of mathematics, logic, and computer science). Rule concepts are used to formalize game, social relationships, and role as well as a major component of role, namely model or belief structure. This is an agent’s ‘situational view,’ providing a perspective on and a basis for understanding and analyzing interaction situations with others. GGT conceptualizes the way that actors, when confronted with new information or candidates for belief, integrate them into their models, or reject them. This occurs through rules of composition. Several social factors can be identified as key variables incorporated or expressed in composition rules and judgments which regulate belief revision and learning processes: (1) degree of trust in a source of belief or message; (2) the social status (professional expertise, ethnicity, gender, age, etc.) of the source relative to the recipient; (3) the strength of commitment with respect to a belief structure; and (4) the strength of collective sanctioning. The theory is applied to multi-agent games, where the social relationships among actors, status and authority differences, the level of trust and expected honesty affect belief change — in large part by affecting the composition rules which are applied to ‘candidates for belief’. The article shows that in some cases of belief revision falsehood is produced — indeed, deception and fabrication are part and parcel of many multi-agent interaction systems. However, in social life, even false beliefs — produced through acceptance of expert or authoritative judgements or beliefs — may become true through self-fulfilling processes.

Modality, bisimulation and interpolation in infinitary logic

Rohit Parikh has been one of the pioneers at the interface of modal and dynamic logic. Bringing dynamic, process-oriented concerns into modal logic has been a major move, whose repercussions are still being felt today. In this contribution, I consider the bridge concept of bisimulation, which links modal logic with computational process theories. The main results show how its model-theoretic invariance properties, first established within first-order model theory, may be lifted to infinitary logic, a natural generalized habitat for theories of programs and processes. The techniques used for this purpose also suggest some further proof-theoretic uses, going beyond purely modal languages.

Recent work at the interface of logic, combinatorics, and computer science

Recent work at the interface of logic, combinatorics, and computer science