Oxford Colloquium in Linguistics and Philosophy 2025
Friday 17 October 2025, 3:30pm - 5:00pm
Ship Street Lecture Theatre, Jesus College, Oxford
Maria Aloni (ILLC and University of Amsterdam): 'Nothing is Logical'
Abstract: People often reason in ways that deviate from classical logic. The core hypothesis Maria explores in her research is that many such deviations are a consequence of a tendency in human cognition to neglect empty representations (neglect-zero).
After introducing the hypothesis, Maria will define a team-based modal logic, BSML, which models the neglect-zero tendency, and makes predictions on its impact on reasoning and interpretation; present recent experimental results testing these predictions and, if time permits, compare BSML with related systems in philosophical logic.
The talk will be followed by a reception. All welcome.
Daniel Altshuler (Linguistics) & Ofra Magidor (Philosophy)
