Questions, Inferences, and Scenarios - Paperback

by Andrzej Wisniewski (Author)

"The importance of questions is beyond doubt. But the degree of attention paid to them in logic and linguistics is still less than they deserve." (from the Preface) What is a question? How to represent questions in formal languages? How to model reasoning in which questions are involved? Can we prove anything by means of pure questioning? How to model goal-directed problem solving? These are the main issues of Andrzej Wiśniewski's "Questions, Inferences, and Scenarios". This book offers a state-of-the-art exposition of Inferential Erotetic Logic, that is, an approach to the logic of questions focused on inferences which lead to questions as conclusions. Wiśniewski characterizes semantic relations which determine validity of these inferences within the framework of Minimal Erotetic Semantics, applicable to a wide range of formal languages. He elaborates in detail the concept of erotetic search scenario, a tool for modelling problem solving. Moreover, the author presents some applications of Inferential Erotetic Logic in proof theory. Andrzej Wiśniewski is one of the most prominent contemporary researchers in the logic of questions. Currently, he is a full professor at the Department of Logic and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland.