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Thursday, April 15, 2010

Implicature as Nonmonotonic

by JLS
for the GC.

From the OED;

MONOTONIC: Of a function or quantity: varying in such a
way that it either never increases or never decreases.
Of a sequence: consisting of terms that vary in this way.
= monotone a. and sb. A. 2, monotonous a. 3.

1901 Ann. Math. II. 116
It follows that f(s) is a monotonic function that actually
decreases in parts of the interval.

1908 T. J. I'A. Bromwich Introd. Theory Infinite Series i. 5
A sequence in which a n + 1 for all values of n is called an
increasing sequence; and similarly if a n + 1
for all values of n, the sequence is called decreasing.
Both increasing and decreasing sequences are included
in the term monotonic sequences.

1923 Proc. Cambr. Philos. Soc. XXI. 633
Z shall be monotonic considered as a function of rho
1957 G. E. Hutchinson Treat. Limnol. I. v. 251
The velocity at any point in a fluid could be expressed as a
continuous monotonic or regularly oscillating function of
time.
1968 E. T. Copson Metric Spaces i. 16
Every bounded monotonic sequence of real numbers is convergent.
1970 Nature 3 Oct. 36/2
The rate of uptake of calcium by the isolated reticulum..also
displayed monotonic dependence on the concentration of free
Ca2+ in the medium.
1973 Jrnl. Genetic Psychol. CXXII. 327
Young-adult responses were.. even more clearly a monotonic
function of actual figure age than were preschool responses.

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The nonmonotonic clause in 'abduction' is (4) below:

1.
D is a collection of data (facts, observations, givens)
2.
H explains D (would, if true, explain D)
3.
No other hypothesis can explain D as well as H does
4. You can always add a new premise to the given
corpus, thus modifying the possible conclusion.
(NON MONOTONIC CLAUSE).
5.
Therefore, H is probably true

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