Publicaties
Qualitative inductive generalization and confirmation Universiteit Gent
Inductive generalization is a defeasible type of inference which we use to reason from the particular to the universal. First, a number of systems are presented that provide different ways of implementing this inference pattern within first-order logic. These systems are defined within the adaptive logics framework for modeling defeasible reasoning. Next, the logics are reinterpreted as criteria of confirmation. It is argued that they withstand ...
Pooling modalities and pointwise intersection : semantics, expressivity, and dynamics Universiteit Gent
We study classical modal logics with pooling modalities, i.e. unary modal operators that allow one to express properties of sets obtained by the pointwise intersection of neighbourhoods. We discuss salient properties of these modalities, situate the logics in the broader area of modal logics (with a particular focus on relational semantics), establish key properties concerning their expressive power, discuss dynamic extensions of these logics ...
Neighbourhood canonicity for EK, ECK, and relatives : a constructive proof Universiteit Gent
We prove neighbourhood canonicity and strong completeness for the logics EK and ECK, obtained by adding axiom (K), resp. adding both (K) and (C), to the minimal modal logic E. In contrast to an earlier proof in [10], ours is constructive. More precisely, we construct minimal characteristic models for both logics and do not rely on compactness of first order logic. The proof involves a specific circumscription technique and quite some ...
Adaptive deontic logics Universiteit Gent
Reasoning with rules and rights : term-modal deontic logic Universiteit Gent
General obligations such as ‘every driver has to give way to a driver coming from the right’ are central in legal reasoning, but have been mostly overlooked in deontic logic. We claim that a simple extension of Standard Deontic Logic to the predicative level is insufficient to capture general obligations. Instead, we argue for an explicit representation of bearers (and counterparties) of obligations as terms in a quantified deontic logic. To ...
Black ravens, white shoes and scientific evidence : the Ravens Paradox and/in scientific practice Universiteit Gent
1BLACK RAVENS, WHITE SHOES AND SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE.THE RAVENS PARADOX AND/IN SCIENTIFIC PRACTICEErik Weber, Mathieu Beirlaen&Inge De BalCentre for Logic and Philosophy of ScienceGhent University (UGent)Blandijnberg 2, B-9000 Gent , BelgiumAbstractA well-known consequence of Hempel’s account of confirmation is the RavensParadox. In this paper we discuss this paradox from the viewpointof scientific practice. The main worry, when looking at ...
The best we can do Universiteit Gent
We study a STIT logic for two agents i and j, augmented with three deontic constants 1, 1i, 1j . The constants express, respectively, optimality for the group {i, j}, optimality for agent i, and optimality for agent j. An action X is optimal for an (individual or group) agent if and only if X is not strongly dominated by another action X0 that is available to that same agent. We propose an axiomatization for this logic and we study its ...