Philosophy, Language, and Artificial Intelligence: Resources for Processing Natural Language

421 Pages·1988·2.28 MB·English

by  Jack Kulas (auth.)

PHILOSOPHY, LANGUAGE, AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
STUDIES IN COGNITIVE SYSTEMS
James H. Fetzer
University of Minnesota, Duluth
Editor
ADVISOR Y EDITORIAL BOARD
Fred Dretske
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Ellery Eells
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Alick Elithorn
Royal Free Hospital, London
Jerry Fodor
City University of New York
Alvin Goldman
University of Arizona
Jaakko Hintikka
Florida State University
Frank Keil
Cornell University
William Rapaport
State University of New York at Buffalo
Barry Richards
University of Edinburgh
Stephen Stich
University of California at San Diego
Lucia Vaina
Boston University
Terry Winograd
Stanford University
PHILOSOPHY,
LANGUAGE, AND
ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE
Resources for Processing Natural Language
Edited by
JACK KULAS
Department oj Computer Science,
University oj Idaho, Moscow, U.S.A.
JAMES H. FETZER
Department oj Philosophy and Humanities,
University oj Minnesota, Duluth, U.S.A.
and
TERRY L. RANKIN
IBM AI Support Center, Palo Alto,
California, U.S.A.
KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS
DORDRECHT I BOSTON I LONDON
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Phi losophy, language, and artificial intelllgence philosophical
resources for processlng natural language I Jack Kulas, James H.
Fetzer, Terry L. Rankin, editors.
p. cm. -- (Studies in cognltlve systems)
Bibll0graphy: p.
Includes indexes.
ISBN 1-556-08073-5 (U.S.)
1. Computatlonal llnguistics. 2. Languages--Philosophy.
3. Artlficial intelllgence. I. Kulas, Jack. II. Fetzer, James H.,
1940- III. Rankin, Terry L. IV. Series.
P98.P475 1988
410--0C19 88-10886
CIP
ISBN-13: 978-94-010-7726-2 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-009-2727-8
DOl: 10.1007/978-94-009-2727-8
Published by Kluwer Academic Publishers,
P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
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the publishing programmes of
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Sold and distributed in the U.S.A. and Canada
by Kluwer Academic Publishers,
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In all other countries, sold and distributed
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All Rights Reserved
© 1988 by Kluwer Academic Publishers
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1988
No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.
To JAAKKO HINTIKKA
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Series' Preface ix
Acknowledgements xi
JACK KULAS I Philosophy and Natural-Language Processing 1
PROLOGUE: MODES OF MEANING
H. P. GRICE I Utterer's Meaning, Sentence-Meaning, and Word-
Meaning 49
PART I: FORMAL SYNTAX OF
NATURAL LANGUAGE
GEOFFREY K. PULLUM I Footlose and Context-Free 69
STUART M. SHIEBER I Evidence Against the Context-Freeness
of Natural Language 79
PART II: SEMANTIC ASPECTS OF
NATURAL LANGUAGE
DONALD DAVIDSON I Truth and Meaning 93
J AAKKO HINTIKKA I Semantics for Propositional Attitudes 113
PART III: CONNECTING SYNTAX WITH SEMANTICS
RICHARD MONTAGUE I The Proper Treatment of Quantification
in Ordinary English 141
GERALD GAZDAR I Phrase Structure Grammar 163
PART IV: NATURAL LANGUAGE AND
LOGICAL FORM
JAAKKO HINTIKKA I Quantifiers in Natural Languages: Some
Logical Problems, I 221
viii TABLE OF CONTENTS
JON BARWISE AND ROBIN COOPER / Generalized Quantifiers
and Natural Language 241
PART V: POSSIBLE-WORLDS AND
SITUATION SEMANTICS
JOHN PERRY / From Worlds to Situations 305
ROBERT STALNAKER / Possible Worlds and Situations 331
EPILOGUE: FROM SEMANTICS TO PRAGMATICS
HANS KAMP / Semantics versus Pragmatics 349
Selected Bibliography 383
Index of Names 399
Index of Subjects 407
SERIES' PREFACE
This series will include monographs and collections of studies devoted
to the investigation and exploration of knowledge, information and
data-processing systems of all kinds, no matter whether human, (other)
animal or machine. Its scope is intended to span the full range of
interests from classical problems in the philosophy of mind and phi
losophical psychology through issues in cognitive psychology and socio
biology (concerning the mental capabilities of other species) to ideas
related to artificial intelligence and computer science. While primary
emphasis will be placed upon theoretical, conceptual and epistemologi
cal aspects of these problems and domains, empirical, experimental and
methodological studies will also appear from time to time.
Among the most challenging and difficult projects within the scope of
artificial intelligence is the development and implementation of com
puter programs suitable for processing natural language. Our purpose in
compiling the present volume has been to contribute to the foundations
of this enterprise by bringing together classic papers devoted to crucial
problems involved in understanding natural language, which range from
issues of formal syntax and logical form to those of possible-worlds and
situation semantics. The book begins with a comprehensive introduc
tion composed by Jack Kulas, the senior editor of this work, which pro
vides a systematic orientation to this complex field, and ends with a
selected bibliography intended to promote further research. If our
efforts assist others in dealing with these problems, they will have been
worthwhile.
J.H.F.
ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Editors would like to express their appreciation to the D. Reidel Publishing
Company (now Kluwer Academic Publishers) for permission to reprint the
articles that comprise our collection. The articles reprinted in this anthology
were selected from books and journals that were originally published by D.
Reidel as a matter of prior agreement. Since D. Reidel has been widely
recognized as the premier publisher of work within this field, this arrangement
proved to be virtually no restraint at all to our aim of gathering the finest work
available for publication, for which we are grateful.
The selection of papers in this volume are reprinted from the following
sources:
Grice, H. P. (1968), "Utterer's Meaning, Sentence-Meaning, and Word
Meaning", Foundations oj Language 4 (225-242).
Pullum, G. (1986-87), "Footlose and Context Free", Natural Language and
Linguistic Theory 4 (409-414); and "Nobody Goes around at LSA
Meetings Offering Odds", Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 5
(303-309). (Reprinted with author's modifications).
Shieber, S. (1985), "Evidence Against the Context-Freeness of Natural
Langauge", Linguistics and Philosophy 8 (333-343).
Davidson, D. (1967), "Truth and Meaning", Synthese 17 (304-323).
Hintikka, J. (1969), "Semantics for Propositional Attitudes", in J. W. Davis
et aI., eds., Philosophical Logic (Dordrecht: D. Reidel), 21-45.
Montague, R. (1973), "The Proper Treatment of Quantification in Ordinary
English", in J. Hintikka et aI., eds., Approaches to Natural Language
(Dordrecht: D. Reidel), 221-242.
Gazdar, G. (1982), "Phrase Structure Grammar", in P. Jacobson andG.
Pullum, eds., The Nature oj Syntactic Representation (Dordrecht: D.
Reidel), 131-186.
Hintikka, J. (1977), "Quantifiers in Natural Languages: Some Logical
xi
xii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Problems, I", in J. Hintikka et al., eds., Essays on Mathematical and
Philosophical Logic (Dordrecht: D. Reidel), 295-314.
Barwise, J. and R. Cooper (1981), "Generalized Quantifiers and Natural
Language", Linguistics and Philosophy 4 (159-219).
Perry J. (1986), "From Worlds to Situations", Journal of Philosophical Logic
15 (83-107).
Stalnaker, R. (1986), "Possible Worlds and Situations", Journal of
Philosophical Logic 15 (109-123).
Kamp, H. (1978), "Semantics versus Pragmatics", in F. Guenthner and S. J.
Schmidt, eds., Formal Semantics and Pragmatics for Natural Languages
(Dordrecht: D. Reidel), 255-287.