Abstract
We present a proposal for treating default reasoning from the perspective of a dynamic approach to semantics, where meaning is a mapping between information states. Information states are identified with sets of possible worlds—the epistemic possibilities which those states admit. Generic rules, like On weekdays, Giles normally gets up at 8.00 are then taken to induce a pre-order on possible worlds, where worlds complying with the rules are less exceptional than those which go against the rules. Thus, a particular weekday on which Giles gets up at 8.00 is less exceptional than one on which he stays in bed till noon. Unlike many other approaches to nonmonotonicity, we draw a distinction at the level of the object language between defeasible and indefeasible conclusions.
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© 1990 ECSC, EEC, EAEC, Brussels and Luxembourg
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Veltman, F., Klein, E., Moens, M. (1990). Default Reasoning and Dynamic Interpretation of Natural Language. In: ESPRIT ’90. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-0705-8_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-0705-8_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-6803-1
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