The main aim of this study was to examine whether people understand indicative conditionals on the basis of syntactic factors or on the basis of subjective conditional probability. The second aim was to investigate whether the conditional probability of q given p depends on the antecedent and consequent sizes or derives from inductive processes leading to establish a link of plausible cooccurre...

In this paper we investigate how the observation of symptoms which do not completely match a modeled fault can be used to find the most likely fault – and the degree to which this fault occurs. We start out by setting up fuzzy causal diagrams and then show how with the use of a proper operator the arcs of the causal diagram can be reversed. We introduce a graphical representation for fuzzy beli...

The aim of this paper is twofold. First, it is an attempt to give an answer to the famous essay of Eugene Wigner about the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics in the natural sciences [25]. We will argue that mathematics are not only reasonably effective, but that they are also objectively effective in a sense that can be given a precise meaning. For that—and this is the second aim of this...

Discussive logics (also called discursive logics) were introduced in 1948 by Stanis law Jaśkowski and constitute the first family of formal paraconsistent logics. The basic mechanism behind discussive logics is as simple as ingenious. Where L is some modal logic and Γ♦ = {♦A | A ∈ Γ}, a discussive logic DL, associated with L, is obtained by specifying the language L of DL and by stipulating tha...

Two experiments pitted the default-interventionist account of belief bias against a parallel-processing model. According to the former, belief bias occurs because a fast, belief-based evaluation of the conclusion pre-empts a working-memory demanding logical analysis. In contrast, according to the latter both belief-based and logic-based responding occur in parallel. Participants were given dedu...

This study examines the problem of belief revision, defined as deciding which of several initially accepted sentences to disbelieve, when new information presents a logical inconsistency with the initial set. In the first three experiments , the initial sentence set included a conditional sentence, a non-conditional (ground) sentence, and an inferred conclusion drawn from the first two. The new...