8.2 EC Truth Conditions
8.2.2 Truth
SupposeS is represented inEC bySand?φ, and consider the following claim:
S is true iff the update ofSwith?φis successful (8.5) Definition (8.5) has at least two problems. To begin with, it does not assert whatS is true of. In other words, it does not say against what we compareS in order to decide whether it is true. It is not a remedy to replace the left-hand side of it with ‘S is true in a given modelA’. The reason being that the right-hand side does not make use ofA. The second problem, derived from the first one, is that under this definition we cannot work out a coherent definition of falsity. Let me explain a bit. A sentence is false if it is not true —intuitionistic worries aside. When isS not true under definition (8.5)? This depends on whether the request of update, i.e. ?φ, is a success or failure request. Suppose without loss of generality that it is a request of success update. This means thatS is false when?φcannot update Sin order forφto be true in any minimal model ofS. This only happens whenS and φ are inconsistent. But since only one Sand only oneφare assigned to eachSregardless its actual context, thenS is always true or always false. This just does not make any sense —except for tautologies or contradictions— for we need to make place for contingencies in any definition of truth conditions.
Tarski used the notion of translation into a metalanguage in order to define truth conditions. The conditions ‘P(a) is true iffaA∈PA’ is a clear example of this: aA∈PAis a translation ofP(a) in the metalanguage (given a model A). A compositional definition of truth conditions is the key to give truth conditions to a language specified by a grammar. This is the ‘traditional way’ in semantics, so to speak. But, prima facie, we cannot follow this path in order to provideEC
with truth conditions. We would need a more indirect way to do so. We can, instead, followDRT’s proposal. That is, a sentence S determines a DRSK. It is possible to define a model,BK, fromK. Given any model A, we say thatS
is true inAiffBK is a submodel ofA.5 We can suggest a similar definition for
EC. A sentence S determines what I will call a semantic representation, that is, aSand a ?φ. Updating Swe obtain Sφ, and to it we can give a minimal
model,MS. Given a modelA, we saySis true inAiffMS is a submodel ofA.
A closing comment is in place. It is worth mentioning that in order to make explicit the foregoing definition of truth conditions, we need to give a semantic representation to each sentence in a systematic way. Such systematic assignment of semantic representations assumes —for several reasons— a syntax specified beforehand.6 This leads us into either the first or the second position with respect to syntax and semantics (see§5.3). Thus, my critique of cognitive models ease of presentation I will omit this technical detail.
5Truth conditions forDRTcan be also defined in a more traditional way. Cf. [4, Ch. 6,
Vol. 2].
6Some of the reasons are the dealing with syntactic ambiguity, and the possibility of giving
and my interest in truth conditions preclude me to agree with the approach worked on in the second part of this thesis, and suggests that improving on the first part of the thesis —either insisting onDRTor not— might be a more rewarding enterprise.
Chapter 9
Appendix — Some details
of
EC
9.1
The Language of
EC
The language of EC is a 5-sorted First-Order language. The sorts are the fol- lowing:
1. σRis the sort of reals,
2. σeis the sort of events,
3. σf is the sort of non-activity fluents,
4. σactis the sort of activity fluents. 5. σF is the sort of parameterized fluents.
Note that in this version there is no sort for objects. These are going to be codified as a finite list of constants of sortσR(see below).
The following predicates make part of the language ofEC:
1. All the usual predicates ofL(R), particularly, the binary predicate ≤. If
Ris a n-ary predicate inL(R), then it is of sort|σR×. . .{z×σR}
n−times
,
2. For each n≥1, a countably infinite set of constants of n-ary predicates of sortσR×. . .×σR
| {z }
n−times
. We mentioned this in a separate item, since these
constants are intended to be used to codify VP’s that are to be transformed into eventualities (Cf. §3.2).
3. A binary predicateHappensof sortσe×σR,
5. A ternary predicateReleasesσf of sortσe×σf×σR.
Forσ∈ {σf, σact}:
6. An unary predicateInitiallyσ of sortσ,
7. A ternary predicateInitiatesσ of sortσe×σ×σR,
8. A ternary predicateTerminatesσ of sortσe×σ×σR,
9. A ternary predicateClippedσ of sortσR×σ×σR,
10. A binary predicateHoldsAtσ of sortσ×σR.
For the parameterized fluents we require a ‘two-dimensional’ variety of the previous predicates:
11. An binary predicateInitiallyσF of sortσF×σR,
12. A 4-ary predicate InitiatesσF
of sortσe×σF×σR×σR,
13. A 4-ary predicate TerminatesσF of sortσe×σF×σR×σR,
14. A 4-ary predicate ReleasesσF
of sortσe×σF×σR×σR.
15. A 4-ary predicate ClippedσF of sortσR×σF×σR×σR,
16. A ternary predicate HoldsAtσF
of sortσ×σR×σR.
ECuses the functions + and·both of sortσR×σR→σR. We need a binary
function Π of sortσR×σR→σR, and functionsπ
1 andπ2 of sortσR→σR. Letσ∈ {σe, σf, σact, σF, σR, σN}. We assume a fixed, countably infinite set of
variablesxσ, yσ, zσ, . . .of sortσ. We assume a constant 0σR
of sortσR, and a
finite list of constants of sort σR. This list is intended to be a codification of
the objects to be used in the semantic representations.
The terms of the language ofECare built up inductively as follows: 1. Each variable of sortσis a term of sort σ,
2. Each constant of sortσ is a term of sortσ.
3. If g is an-ary function of sort σ1×. . .×σn → σn+1 and t1, . . . , tn are
terms of sort σ1, . . . , σn respectively, then g(t1, . . . , tn) is a term of sort
σn+1.
The atomic formulas are defined as follows:
2. IfRis an-ary predicate of sortσ1×. . . σnandt1, . . . , tnare terms of sort
σ1, . . . , σn respectively, then Rt1, . . . , tn is an atomic formula.
The formulas ofEC are the following: 1. Every atomic formula is a formula, 2. Ifϕis a formula so is¬ϕ,
3. Ifϕandψare formulas so isϕ∧ψ,
4. If xσ is a variable of sort σ, and if ϕis a formula, then ∀xσϕ and ∃xσϕ
are formulas.