Narrative Semantics, Modal Logic and Fictional Possible Worlds

In a very short time Saul Kripke provided a suitable and rigorous semantics for different axiomatic modal systems and established a series of related results. Many key ideas were already in the air in the late Fifties, but it was Kripkean articles’ merit to system atically introduce comprehensive devices and solutions. Later on, the spreading of possible-worlds semantics massively changed the approach to modal logic, which enormously increased in popularity after that. Since Kripke’s work in modal logic is central to the development of the discipline, the aim of this essay is to present the fundamental results published between 1959 and 1965. Indeed, it was in such a brief and early phase of his career that Kripke was able to conceive the main novelties that would become central to the subsequent academic debates about modality. Here, their presentation will follow the original historical progressive introduction. Particular attention will be given to the interconnection between articles, their similarities in structure and the unified analysis produced by means of them. It actually appears quite impressive that, already in 1959, Kripke seemed to have planned all the developments he would present, one after the other, in the following years. First, an overview of the background where Kripke’s ideas start to rise is given. Then, each text’s results are individually briefly analysed.

The famous van Benthem theorem states that modal logic corresponds exactly to the fragment of first-order logic that is invariant under bisimulation. In this article we prove an exact analogue of this theorem in the framework of modal dependence logic (MDL) and team semantics. We show that Modal Team Logic (MTL) extending MDL by classical negation captures exactly the FO-definable bisimulation invariant properties of Kripke structures and teams. We also compare the expressive power of MTL to most of the variants and extensions of MDL recently studied in the area.

It is argued that some possible worlds are only contingently possible, and likewise that some impossible worlds are only contingently impossible. There are counterexamples to S5 modal logic and even to S4. What about B? Although there are no convincing grounds for supposing that even the actual world is only contingently possible, as far as the logic of modality is concerned (as opposed to the metaphysical reality), the actual world might instead have been impossible. The correct modal propositional logic is the simple system T.

Maximal Kripke-type semantics for modal and superintuitionistic predicate logics

We define an operational (transition system) semantics for the two most basic forms of Discrete Event Simulation (DES): event-based simulation (without objects) and object-event simulation. We show that under our operational semantics, DES models correspond to a certain form of abstract state machines (ASMs) such that the Future Event List (FEL) is part of the transition system state and the transition function is based on event routines. Unlike other formalisms proposed for DES (such as Petri Nets or DEVS), our ASM semantics takes all basic DES concepts (like event types and the FEL) into consideration and allows for expressive transition system states representing the objects, properties, relations and functions of the evolving possible worlds of a simulation run. As a direct formal semantics of DES, it provides a basis for comparing, and explaining design choices in, different DES approaches.

Purpose The purpose of this work is to substantiate the modality of predicates as one of the key means of expressing objective epistemic modality in the aspect of popular science discourse and to describe the epistemic meaning contained in a proposition. Design/methodology/approach The methodology used in this research is based on the research of the category of effectiveness, evaluation, implemented in a specific rhetorical practice in the aspect of scientific, popular science discourse (Annushkin and Shcherbakov in Sci Dialogue 6:9–43, 2020; Balas in Innovative research in life sciences: pathways to scientific impact, public health improvement, and economic progress. Wiley, 2018; Danilevskaya in Bull Perm Univ Russ Foreign Philology 20–28, 2009; Golyshkin in Sci Dialogue 10:94–109, 2019; Golyshkina in Sci Dialogue 5:9–24, 2020); separate basic principles of modal epistemic logic, linguistic semantics of (Klemenova and Kudryashov in Philology, Journalism, 17(6):97–107, 2018; Layonz in Linguistic semantics. Introduction. Yazyki slavyanskoy kultury, Moscow, 2003; Paducheva in Sementic researches. Semantic of time and species in Russian language. Narrative semantics. Yazyki slavyanskoy kultury. Moscow, 2010; Paducheva in Egocentric units of language, Yazyki slavyanskoy kultury, 2019). Also, the research is based on the method of continuous sampling in the selection of practical material, the method of quantitative and qualitative analysis. Findings It is shown that the modern multicultural regions need flexible state management of their economy in two directions: migration flows and foreign economic activities. The problem of supporting high flexibility of state management of economy of multicultural regions consists in underdevelopment of the scientific and methodological provision of this management depending on the context and the current needs and capabilities of the region. Originality/value The results of the study showed that the predicates “show”, “concluded”, “according”, “according to/tells”, “found”, etc., by ascertaining the values also enter into epistemic modal component is a predicate intended to reaffirm the objective possibility of approval through the chain of logical conclusions and experimental data. This type of construction is found in the scientific information magazine “in the world of science” 6 times more than in “Science of technology”. In addition, these predicates perform the function of an epistemic obligation, when the epistemic responsibility for what is said “by default” lies with the author of a popular science text, as well as with the translator—correspondent—of this research and this responsibility. This fact confirms the rhetorical persuasiveness of the proposition. In texts complicated by indicators of epistemic modality with problematic confidence, the predicates “show”, “concluded”, “according to data”, “according to words/says”, “found”, etc. they form the epistemic responsibility of the speaker and the broadcaster for the truth of the proposition. Designs with problematic reliability are not typical for the journal “Science and technology”, they are mainly notable for the heading “Aircraft and aircraft construction”.KeywordsObjective epistemic modalityPopular science discourseRhetorical practiceEpistemic responsibilityPredicates with problematic validityPredicates with a stating elementJEL ClassificationL82I29

Beliefs have been formally modelled in the last decades using doxastic logics. The possible worlds model and its associated Kripke semantics provide an intuitive semantics for these logics, but the...

Did duns scotus invent possible worlds semantics?

Modal logic originated in philosophy as the logic of necessity and possibility. Now it has reached a high level of mathematical sophistication and has many applications in a variety of disciplines, ranging from artificial intelligence, computer science and mathematics via natural language syntax and semantics to philosophy. It is the main source of formal languages aimed at analyzing complex notions such as common knowlwdge and formal provability. This volume presents a broad, contemporary view of the field, with contributions covering the foundations of modal logic as well as its many application areas.

Previous intuitionistic justification logics included explicit justifications for all admissible rules of intuitionistic logic in order to get completeness with respect to provability semantics. We present the justification logic iJT4, which does not have these additional justification terms. We establish that iJT4 is complete with respect to modular models and that there is a realization of intuitionistic S4 into iJT4. Hence iJT4 can be seen as an explicit version of intuitionistic S4.

No abstract.

<p>The article is devoted to the trial of comparatives with<br> instrumental case, outlined main distinctive indications of comparative modality category within<br> predicative items, defined semantic and grammatical distinctness with instrumental comparative<br> case in V. Stus lyrics. Urgency of the research is caused by the absence of detailed analysis such<br> comparatives in the author’s creations. The aim of article is to catch out semantic-grammatical<br> peculiarities of functioning comparative structures with instrumental case and its role in creation<br> of V. Stus poetics. There is characterized the poetic capacity of comparative structures with<br> instrumental case in the author’s lyrics. Comparative structures with instrumental case allow to<br> draw an analogy between different phenomenons, as they unite two faces of poetic texts – figurative<br> and real. They create indivisible figurative area and provide for stylistic and semantic integrity.<br> Furthermore, such structures permit to express complicated train of thought, subtle shades of some<br> meanings with brief and capacious formulation and to thicken the text, make it the most expressive<br> while borderline extend word semantic, doing perception of the text ambivalent. Using instrumental<br> comparative case the author subtilizes to profound metaphorization of created figures intensifying<br> emotionality of narration and exposing the author’s modality.</p>

The thesis, based on anthropological fieldwork conducted in Alexandria (Egypt) from 2011 to 2012, focuses on the Greek Alexandrian community, a socially and territorially bounded urban diaspora entity, which through institutions, spatial arrangements and face-to-face interactions articulates a sense of connection to place through claims regarding a historically continuous socio-spatial connection to both Alexandria (and Egypt) and Greece. The thesis draws on notions of time and space as a framework for discussing the social dynamics of the Greek Alexandrian community in relation to the complex context of social, economic and political transformations it has experienced over the last 60 years. The aim is to explore culturally defined concepts of identity and memory among Greek Alexandrians, particularly in relation to the major social, political and economic events that followed the Egyptian revolution of 1952, causing significant social and spatial transformations within the Greek Alexandrian community. These changes altered prevailing concepts of public and private space and affected the possibilities of successful inter-generational transmission of values and identities. As perceptions and practices explored in the thesis differ, depending on community role – leaders versus members – but also on age, the concept of generation is used to examine the diverse ways in which the past, present and future are variously understood and confronted. Changing notions of Greek Alexandrian identity are explored by focusing not only on the community’s narrative constructs but also on the visual and material objects that members of the community considered to be meaningful. A wide range of ethnographic material was examined, from narratives, texts and interviews, to visual data such as photographs, videos, films, pictures, and material elements such as urban buildings and other spatial arrangements that are recognized as being central to the community. These diverse elements are brought together in the discussion of collaboration with research participants, which resulted in an exhibition on the history of the community. The exhibition became the means through which interactions across the community’s people and places unfolded, diverse narratives and sentiments about the past, the present and the future emerged, and the area in which frictions and tensions revealed themselves.

Fitch-style modal lambda calculi enable programming with necessity modalities in a typed lambda calculus by extending the typing context with a delimiting operator that is denoted by a lock. The addition of locks simplifies the formulation of typing rules for calculi that incorporate different modal axioms, but each variant demands different, tedious and seemingly ad hoc syntactic lemmas to prove normalization. In this work, we take a semantic approach to normalization, called normalization by evaluation (NbE), by leveraging the possible-world semantics of Fitch-style calculi to yield a more modular approach to normalization. We show that NbE models can be constructed for calculi that incorporate the K, T and 4 axioms of modal logic, as suitable instantiations of the possible-world semantics. In addition to existing results that handle 𝛽-equivalence, our normalization result also considers 𝜂-equivalence for these calculi. Our key results have been mechanized in the proof assistant Agda. Finally, we showcase several consequences of normalization for proving meta-theoretic properties of Fitch-style calculi as well as programming-language applications based on different interpretations of the necessity modality.

The paper aims to investigate the interactions between public, media and authorities that emerged during the Covid-19 emergency as variables of a state of systemic anxiety, characteristic of information societies. The Coronavirus crisis involved around four billion individuals. No pandemic or traumatic event on a global scale, however serious or risky, had ever managed to lead authorities and multitudes to such a resolution. The measures prescribed for the containment of the pandemic implied maximum physical confinement and the widest freedom guaranteed to our digital avatars. That was the opportunity for an unprecedented and massive transhumance in digital territories. Using the paradigms of fear as a latent and functional emotional constant in advanced information society, (Beck, 1986; Bauman, 2006), the investigation makes a comparison between some mechanisms of defense against states of shock and some of the media narratives of the emergency by which the italian public constructed its own mediated experience of the pandemic during the quarantine. In particular, the theme of the apocalyptic/millennial narrative is studied in more detail, in the light of various literary theories that describe its characteristics and dynamics. The aim is to demonstrate how the collective anxiety state can be traced back to a constant oscillation on different semantic clusters, rather than a variable consequence of concrete events.