Minimal erotetic semantics

Andrzej Wiśniewski (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań)

We generalize Belnap's erotetic semantics (cf. [1]) in two directions. First, we modify the general setting: partitions of a language (cf . [2]) are used as the starting point, and all the semantic concepts pertaining to questions are defined in terms of admissible partitions. These, in turn, are determined by intended interpretations of basic concepts of a language. Second, we introduce some new erotetic concepts and we redefine some "old" concepts. In particular, corrective answers and eliminative answers are under scrutiny.

References

Belnap, N. and Steel, Th. B., The Logic of Questions and Answers , Yale University Press, New Haven 1976.

Shoesmith, D. J. and Smiley, T. J., Multiple-conclusion Logic , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1978.

Wiśniewski, A., The Posing of Questions: Logical Foundations of Erotetic Inferences , Kluwer, Dordrecht/Boston/London 1995.

Wiśniewski, A.,'Questions and Inferences', Logique et Analyse 173-175, 2001, pp. 5-43.