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| Author | J.F.A.K. van Benthem | | Title | A Brief History of Natural Logic |
| Faculty | Faculty of Science |
| Institute/dept. | FNWI/FGw: Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC) |
| Keywords | logic, natural language, natural logic, monotonicity, cognition |
| Series | ILLC Prepublications / ILLC ; PP-2008-5 |
| Abstract | 'Natural logic' is the idea that much human inference
can be based on natural language surface form, which
(hopefully) reflects fast human computational-cognitive
mechanisms. This paper was written at the invitation of
the computational linguists at Stanford, who are using
light inference mechanisms in current avant-garde text
processing. We trace the sources of the idea to pre-
Fregean traditional logic, and explain the systematic
categorial 'monotonicity calculus' allowing inference
a 'free ride' on syntax, first proposed in the 1980s
in the setting of generalized quantifier theory, as
well as subsequent developments - all the way up to
current cognitive science. Calculi of natural logic
belong to the most frequently rediscovered ideas in
logic: from philosophy in Greek and Chinese Antiquity
to modern computer science and neuroscience. The paper
will appear in the "Proceedings of the Kolkata Logic
Conference 2007", held in the memory of K. Matilal,
edited by Benedikt Loewe, Sujata Ghosh, et al. |
| Document type | Preprint |
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