Home The Stoic Theory of Sign and the Semantic Modulation of Models
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

The Stoic Theory of Sign and the Semantic Modulation of Models

  • Miguel López-Astorga EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: June 14, 2022

Abstract

The theory of mental models is a current cognitive approach trying to describe the way people make inferences. According to this theory, people reason from possibilities or models linked to sentences. Sometimes, such possibilities or models are transformed by the action of a semantic modulation. The point this paper is intended to make is that Stoic logic also has the machinery to explain semantic processes such as that of modulation. This is shown by means of the criterion Chrysippus of Soli provided for conditional sentences and the theory of sign related to that criterion.


Corresponding author: Miguel López-Astorga, Institute of Humanistic Studies “Juan Ignacio Molina”, Universidad de Talca, Av. Lircay s/n, 3460000 Talca, VII Región del Maule, Chile, E-mail:

Funding source: Fondo Fondecyt de Continuidad para Investigadores Senior, Universidad de Talca

Award Identifier / Grant number: Código FCSEN2102

Funding source: PIA Ciencias Cognitivas, Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Cognitivas, Instituto de Estudios Humanísticos, Universidad de Talca

  1. Research funding: This work was supported by Fondo Fondecyt de Continuidad para Investigadores Senior, Universidad de Talca (Código FCSEN2102) and PIA Ciencias Cognitivas, Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Cognitivas, Instituto de Estudios Humanísticos, Universidad de Talca.

References

Bocheński, J. M. 1963. Ancient Formal Logic. Amsterdam: North-Holland.Search in Google Scholar

Bonzien, S. 1997. “The Stoics on Hypotheses and Hypothetical Arguments.” Phronesis 42 (3): 299–312.10.1163/15685289760518180Search in Google Scholar

Braine, M. D. S., and D. P. O’Brien, eds. 1998. Mental Logic. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers.10.4324/9781410603005Search in Google Scholar

Byrne, R. M. J., and P. N. Johnson-Laird. 2009. “‘If’ and the Problems of Conditional Reasoning.” Trends in Cognitive Science 13 (7): 282–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2009.04.003.Search in Google Scholar

Carnap, R. 1947. Meaning and Necessity: A Study in Semantics and Modal Logic. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Search in Google Scholar

Espino, O., R. M. J. Byrne, and P. N. Johnson-Laird. 2020. “Possibilities and the Parallel Meanings of Factual and Counterfactual Conditionals.” Memory & Cognition 48: 1263–80. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-020-01040-6.Search in Google Scholar

Gould, J. B. 1970. The Philosophy of Chrysippus. Albany: State University of New York Press.10.1163/9789004320369Search in Google Scholar

Jeffrey, R. 1981. Formal Logic: Its Scope and Limits. New York: McGraw-Hill.Search in Google Scholar

Johnson-Laird, P. N. 2012. “Inference with Mental Models.” In The Oxford Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning, edited by K. J. Holyoak, and R. G. Morrison, 134–45. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199734689.013.0009.Search in Google Scholar

Johnson-Laird, P. N., and M. Ragni. 2019. “Possibilities as the Foundation of Reasoning.” Cognition 193: 103950. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2019.04.019.Search in Google Scholar

Johnson-Laird, P. N., and R. M. J. Byrne. 2002. “Conditionals: A Theory of Meaning, Pragmatics, and Inference.” Psychological Review 109 (4): 646–78. https://doi.org/10.1037//0033-295X.109.4.646.Search in Google Scholar

Johnson-Laird, P. N., S. Khemlani, and G. P. Goodwin. 2015. “Logic, Probability, and Human Reasoning.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 19 (4): 201–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2015.02.006.Search in Google Scholar

Khemlani, S., I. Orenes, and P. N. Johnson-Laird. 2014. “The Negation of Conjunctions, Conditionals, and Disjunctions.” Acta Psychologica 151: 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2014.05.004.Search in Google Scholar

Khemlani, S., R. M. J. Byrne, and P. N. Johnson-Laird. 2018. “Facts and Possibilities: A Model-Based Theory of Sentential Reasoning.” Cognitive Science 42 (6): 1887–924. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12634.Search in Google Scholar

Khemlani, S., T. Hinterecker, and P. N. Johnson-Laird. 2017. “The Provenance of Modal Inference.” In Computational Foundations of Cognition, edited by G. Gunzelmann, A. Howes, T. Tenbrink, and E. J. Davelaar, 663–8. Austin: Cognitive Science Society.Search in Google Scholar

Kneale, W., and M. Kneale. 1962. The Development of Logic. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Lenzen, W. 2019. “Leibniz’s Laws of Consistency and the Philosophical Foundations of Connexive Logic.” Logic and Logical Philosophy 28: 537–51. https://doi.org/10.12775/LLP.2019.004.Search in Google Scholar

Lewis, C. I. 1918. A Survey of Symbolic Logic. Berkeley: University of California Press.10.1525/9780520398252Search in Google Scholar

López-Astorga, M. 2017a. “Chrysippus’ Indemonstrables and the Semantic Mental Models.” Eidos 26: 302–25. https://doi.org/10.14482/eidos.26.8437.Search in Google Scholar

López-Astorga, M. 2017b. “The Stoic Sign and the Pragmatic or Implicit Premises in the Formal Theories.” Clareira. Revista de Filosofia da Região Amazônica 4 (1–2): 171–82.Search in Google Scholar

López-Astorga, M. 2019. “The Semantic Method of Extension and Intension and the Four Criteria of the Conditional Described by Sextus Empiricus.” Revista de Filosofía 44 (2): 253–61. https://doi.org/10.5209/resf.61161.Search in Google Scholar

López-Astorga, M., M. Ragni, and P. N. Johnson-Laird. 2021. “The Probability of Conditionals: A Review.” Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 29: 1–20. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-021-01938-5.Search in Google Scholar

Mates, B. 1953. Stoic Logic. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Search in Google Scholar

Orenes, I., and P. N. Johnson-Laird. 2012. “Logic, Models, and Paradoxical Inferences.” Mind & Language 27 (4): 357–77. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0017.2012.01448.x.Search in Google Scholar

O’Toole, R. R., and R. E. Jennings. 2004. “The Megarians and the Stoics.” In Handbook of the History of Logic, Volume 1. Greek, Indian and Arabic Logic, edited by D. M. Gabbay, and J. Woods, 397–522. Amsterdam: Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1874-5857(04)80008-6.Search in Google Scholar

Quelhas, A. C., C. Rasga, and P. N. Johnson-Laird. 2017. “A Priori True and False Conditionals.” Cognitive Science 41 (55): 1003–30. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12479.Search in Google Scholar

Quelhas, A. C., C. Rasga, and P. N. Johnson-Laird. 2019. “The Analytic Truth and Falsity of Disjunctions.” Cognitive Science 43: 9. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12739.Search in Google Scholar

Quelhas, A. C., P. N. Johnson-Laird, and C. Juhos. 2010. “The Modulation of Conditional Assertions and its Effects on Reasoning.” The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 63 (9): 1716–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470210903536902.Search in Google Scholar

Restall, G. 2006. Logic: An Introduction. Montreal & Kingston. Canada: McGill-Queen’s University Press.10.1515/9780773585928Search in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2022-06-14
Published in Print: 2022-11-25

© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Downloaded on 22.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/sats-2021-0027/html
Scroll to top button