Dear all,
We will have our next LIRa session tomorrow, on Thursday, 12 October 16:30.
This will be a hybrid session. If you want to attend online, please use our recurring zoom link:
https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/89230639823?pwd=YWJuSnJmTDhXcWhmd1ZkeG5zb0o5UT09
(Meeting ID: 892 3063 9823, Passcode: 421723)
You can find the details of the talk below.
Speaker: Alexandru Baltag (ILLC, University of Amsterdam)
Date and Time: Thursday, October 12th 2023, 16:30-18:00
Venue: ILLC seminar room F1.15 in Science Park 107 and online
Title: The Dynamic Logic of Causality: from counterfactual dependence to causal interventions
Abstract. Pearl's causal models have become the standard/dominant
approach to representing and reasoning about causality. The setting is
based on the static notion of causal graphs, but it also makes an
essential use of the dynamic notion of causal interventions. In
particular, Halpern and Pearl used this setting to define and
investigate various notions of actual causality.
As noted by many, causal interventions have an obvious counterfactual
flavour. But... their relationship with the counterfactual
conditionals (a la Lewis-Stalnaker) has remained murky! A lot of
confusion surrounds this topic.
The purpose of this talk is threefold:
1. understand interventions as dynamic modalities (rather than
conditionals);
2. elucidate the relationship between intervention modalities and
counterfactual conditionals;
3. formalize and completely axiomatize a Causal Intervention Calculus
(CIC), that is general enough to allow us to capture both
interventions and causal conditionals, but also expressive enough to
capture the various notions of actual causality proposed in the
literature.
Hope to see you there!
The LIRa team
Dear all,
We will have our next LIRa session on Thursday, 12 October 16:30.
This will be a hybrid session. If you want to attend online, please use our recurring zoom link:
https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/89230639823?pwd=YWJuSnJmTDhXcWhmd1ZkeG5zb0o5UT09
(Meeting ID: 892 3063 9823, Passcode: 421723)
You can find the details of the talk below.
Speaker: Alexandru Baltag (ILLC, University of Amsterdam)
Date and Time: Thursday, October 12th 2023, 16:30-18:00
Venue: ILLC seminar room F1.15 in Science Park 107 and online
Title: The Dynamic Logic of Causality: from counterfactual dependence to causal interventions
Abstract. Pearl's causal models have become the standard/dominant
approach to representing and reasoning about causality. The setting is
based on the static notion of causal graphs, but it also makes an
essential use of the dynamic notion of causal interventions. In
particular, Halpern and Pearl used this setting to define and
investigate various notions of actual causality.
As noted by many, causal interventions have an obvious counterfactual
flavour. But... their relationship with the counterfactual
conditionals (a la Lewis-Stalnaker) has remained murky! A lot of
confusion surrounds this topic.
The purpose of this talk is threefold:
1. understand interventions as dynamic modalities (rather than
conditionals);
2. elucidate the relationship between intervention modalities and
counterfactual conditionals;
3. formalize and completely axiomatize a Causal Intervention Calculus
(CIC), that is general enough to allow us to capture both
interventions and causal conditionals, but also expressive enough to
capture the various notions of actual causality proposed in the
literature.
Hope to see you there!
The LIRa team
Dear all,
We will have our next LIRa session tomorrow, on Thursday, 28 September 17:00.
This will be an ONLINE-only session. If you want to attend, please use our recurring zoom link:
https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/89230639823?pwd=YWJuSnJmTDhXcWhmd1ZkeG5zb0o5UT09
(Meeting ID: 892 3063 9823, Passcode: 421723)
You can find the details of the talk below.
Speaker: Gillman Payette (Department of Philosophy, University of Calgary)
Date and Time: Thursday, September 28th 2023, 17:00-18:30 (NOTE the unusual time)
Venue: online only. (i.e. not hybrid!)
Title: Connecting Schotch-Jennings forcing and Rescher-Manor inference
Abstract. Inference from inconsistent data is a challenging problem.
Some ways of dealing with it propose changing the concept of logical
consequence; these are often referred to as paraconsistent logics. On
the other hand, some suggest keeping the standard conception of
(classical) logical consequence and dealing with the inconsistency by
judicially arranging the data so as to avoid the problematic
interactions between data that could make trouble. The latter is
characteristic of the North American approaches to inference from
inconsistency.
In this talk, I will discuss two such versions of paraconsistent
inference. The first, due to Rescher and Manor, derives conclusions
based on what follows from maximally consistent subsets of the data.
The other due to Schotch and Jennings, looks at what follows from at
least one subset in every — minimally — partitioned reorganization
of the data into consistent sets. After looking at the shortcomings of
each, I will show how to combine them to get a system that, arguably,
meets the requirements set by the various theorists, but makes fewer
assumptions than the theorists' suggestions for deriving more from
inconsistent data.
Hope to see you there!
The LIRa team
Dear all,
We will have our next LIRa session tomorrow, on Tuesday, 26 September 14:00.
You can find the details of the talk below.
This will be a joint session together with the NihiL seminar.
Speakers: Yanjing Wang and Zilu Wang (Peking University)
Date and Time: Tuesday, September 26th 2023, 14:00-15:30 (NOTE
the unusual day and time)
Venue: hybrid! KdVI seminar room F3.20 in Science Park 107 and the
zoom link of the NihiL seminar:
https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/87618965843
Title: A Bundled Approach to Deontic Logic
Abstract. In this talk, we will introduce a new semantic approach to
deontic logic based on the so-called bundled modalities, which
essentially pack a quantifier and a modality together. Our starting
point is the observation that many "strange" logical behaviors of
modalities and logical connectives in natural language are due to the
fact that they have more complicated inner logical structures in the
semantics. Many examples can be found in epistemic logics of know-wh,
where the know-wh modalities often have the implicit ∃x structure
based on the mention-some interpretation. As the logical puzzles are
abundant in deontic logic, a natural question arises for us: are there
also some bundles hidden in the deontic modalities? In fact, the
possibilities of viewing permissions and obligations as bundles were
informally discussed by Hintikka in the early days of deontic logic.
For example, Hintikka proposed to understand permission as a bundle of
∀x◇, i.e., an action type α is permitted iff every token of α is
executable on some deontically ideal world. Given the techniques of
the bundled modalities, we can flesh out this proposal formally, which
results in a desirable logic of free-choice permission satisfying most
of the intuitive properties. Moreover, this semantics also predicts
new logical behaviors not yet discussed in the literature. For
example, according to our semantics, one of the four distributive laws
of conjunction and disjunction is invalid, which aligns with our
linguistic intuition. Besides the bundled modalities, our approach
also features the Brouwer-Heyting-Kolmogorov (BHK) style treatment of
propositions as action types inspired by intuitionistic logic. This
opens the possibility of fine-grained control of the composition of
action types in terms of non-classical connectives. It also reveals
the subtleties behind the negation, conjunction, and implication in
deontic logic. We will end with a discussion on higher-order
permissions that can be treated in our approach by allowing nested
permission modalities in the language.
Hope to see you there!
The LIRa team
Dear all,
We will have two events next week!
- a joint Joint NihiL and LIRa session on Tuesday, 26 September 14:00.
- an online-only LIRa session on Thursday, 28 September at 17:00.
You can find the details of both talks below.
*joint session together with the NihiL seminar*
Speakers: Yanjing Wang and Zilu Wang (Peking University)
Date and Time: Tuesday, September 26th 2023, 14:00-15:30 (NOTE
the unusual day and time)
Venue: hybrid! KdVI seminar room F3.20 in Science Park 107 and the
zoom link of the NihiL seminar:
https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/87618965843
Title: A Bundled Approach to Deontic Logic
Abstract. In this talk, we will introduce a new semantic approach to
deontic logic based on the so-called bundled modalities, which
essentially pack a quantifier and a modality together. Our starting
point is the observation that many "strange" logical behaviors of
modalities and logical connectives in natural language are due to the
fact that they have more complicated inner logical structures in the
semantics. Many examples can be found in epistemic logics of know-wh,
where the know-wh modalities often have the implicit ∃x structure
based on the mention-some interpretation. As the logical puzzles are
abundant in deontic logic, a natural question arises for us: are there
also some bundles hidden in the deontic modalities? In fact, the
possibilities of viewing permissions and obligations as bundles were
informally discussed by Hintikka in the early days of deontic logic.
For example, Hintikka proposed to understand permission as a bundle of
∀x◇, i.e., an action type α is permitted iff every token of α is
executable on some deontically ideal world. Given the techniques of
the bundled modalities, we can flesh out this proposal formally, which
results in a desirable logic of free-choice permission satisfying most
of the intuitive properties. Moreover, this semantics also predicts
new logical behaviors not yet discussed in the literature. For
example, according to our semantics, one of the four distributive laws
of conjunction and disjunction is invalid, which aligns with our
linguistic intuition. Besides the bundled modalities, our approach
also features the Brouwer-Heyting-Kolmogorov (BHK) style treatment of
propositions as action types inspired by intuitionistic logic. This
opens the possibility of fine-grained control of the composition of
action types in terms of non-classical connectives. It also reveals
the subtleties behind the negation, conjunction, and implication in
deontic logic. We will end with a discussion on higher-order
permissions that can be treated in our approach by allowing nested
permission modalities in the language.
*Online LIRa session with Gillman Payette*
Speaker: Gillman Payette (Department of Philosophy, University of Calgary)
Date and Time: Thursday, September 28th 2023, 17:00-18:30 (NOTE the unusual time)
Venue: online only. (i.e. not hybrid!)
Please use our recurring zoom link:
https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/89230639823?pwd=YWJuSnJmTDhXcWhmd1ZkeG5zb0o5UT09
(Meeting ID: 892 3063 9823, Passcode: 421723)
Title: Connecting Schotch-Jennings forcing and Rescher-Manor inference
Abstract. Inference from inconsistent data is a challenging problem. Some ways of dealing with it propose changing the concept of logical consequence; these are often referred to as paraconsistent logics. On the other hand, some suggest keeping the standard conception of (classical) logical consequence and dealing with the inconsistency by judicially arranging the data so as to avoid the problematic interactions between data that could make trouble. The latter is characteristic of the North American approaches to inference from inconsistency.
In this talk, I will discuss two such versions of paraconsistent inference. The first, due to Rescher and Manor, derives conclusions based on what follows from maximally consistent subsets of the data. The other due to Schotch and Jennings, looks at what follows from at least one subset in every — minimally — partitioned reorganization of the data into consistent sets. After looking at the shortcomings of each, I will show how to combine them to get a system that, arguably, meets the requirements set by the various theorists, but makes fewer assumptions than the theorists’ suggestions for deriving more from inconsistent data.
Hope to see you there!
The LIRa team
Dear all,
We will have our next LIRa session tomorrow, on Thursday, 14 September 16:30.
This will be a hybrid session. If you want to attend online, please use our recurring zoom link:
https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/89230639823?pwd=YWJuSnJmTDhXcWhmd1ZkeG5zb0o5UT09
(Meeting ID: 892 3063 9823, Passcode: 421723)
You can find the details of the talk below.
Speaker: Avijeet Ghosh
Date and Time: Thursday, September 14th 2023, 16:30-18:00
Venue: ILLC seminar room F1.15 in Science Park 107 and online
Title: Complexity Study of Reasoning about Knowledge and Public Observations
Abstract. This talk explores the model checking and satisfiability
problems in logical systems for reasoning about knowledge and
observations of intelligent agents and their interactions. We examine
the foundations laid by Kripke and Hintikka, which paved the way
towards the development of their dynamic counterparts, e.g., Public
announcement logic, and its extensions like Dynamic epistemic logic
and Public observation logic. Complexity studies for these logics stem
from similar studies in temporal logics initiated by Halpern and
Vardi, among others.
More specifically, we focus on Public observation logic and analyze
its model checking and satisfiability problems. By investigating these
problems, we uncover insights into effective and efficient reasoning
about knowledge in multi-agent scenarios. Moreover, we explore how
these insights can be applied in solving standard problems in relevant
domains like planning.
Hope to see you there!
The LIRa team
Dear all,
Next week we will have two events:
1) Tuesday 12 September: *JRC Celebration Event*
On 12 September 2023, the joint research center for Logic at both
Tsinghua University and the University of Amsterdam (UvA) will
organize a small workshop to celebrate the completion of three new
joint PhD theses. The work reported on in these new PhD thesis
projects is perfectly aligned with the main mission of the JRC centre
to further broaden the interdisciplinary view of logic. We will take
the opportunity in the afternoon of 12 September to celebrate these
new achievements and warmly invite all interested researchers and
students to attend the event. The celebration event will take place at
the ILLC, University of Amsterdam, Science Park on Tuesday, the 12th
of September 2023, in hybrid format.
See http://tsinghualogic.net/JRC/joint-phd-celebration
2) Thursday 14 September: *LIRa session with Avijeet Ghosh*
Speaker: Avijeet Ghosh
Date and Time: Thursday, September 14th 2023, 16:30-18:00
Venue: ILLC seminar room F1.15 in Science Park 107 and online
Title: Complexity Study of Reasoning about Knowledge and Public Observations
Abstract. This talk explores the model checking and satisfiability
problems in logical systems for reasoning about knowledge and
observations of intelligent agents and their interactions. We examine
the foundations laid by Kripke and Hintikka, which paved the way
towards the development of their dynamic counterparts, e.g., Public
announcement logic, and its extensions like Dynamic epistemic logic
and Public observation logic. Complexity studies for these logics stem
from similar studies in temporal logics initiated by Halpern and
Vardi, among others.
More specifically, we focus on Public observation logic and analyze
its model checking and satisfiability problems. By investigating these
problems, we uncover insights into effective and efficient reasoning
about knowledge in multi-agent scenarios. Moreover, we explore how
these insights can be applied in solving standard problems in relevant
domains like planning.
This will be a hybrid session. If you want to attend online, please
use our recurring zoom link:
https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/89230639823?pwd=YWJuSnJmTDhXcWhmd1ZkeG5zb0o5UT09
(Meeting ID: 892 3063 9823, Passcode: 421723)
Hope to see you there!
The LIRa team
Dear subscribers of the LIRa seminar,
We would like to draw your attention to a LIRa-related Call for Papers, see below.
kind regards,
The LIRa team
3rd Call for Papers (Deadline Extended)
************************************************************
Special Issue of RAP (Review of Analytic Philosophy) on
Logics of Communicative Interaction
************************************************************
We invite submissions to a Special Issue on `Logics of
Communicative Interaction'. This special issue will appear in the
peer-reviewed international journal called the `Review of Analytic
Philosophy', which was first launched in 2021 as a new Open Access journal
in analytic philosophy.
This special issue welcomes new work on the logical study of dynamic
changes that take place in scenarios of communicative interaction. Complex
forms of change in cognitive states of agents and their social relations
can occur in the process of communicative interaction, which calls for a
detailed logical analysis. A central topic in such an analysis is the
triggers of such changes and their effects during the process of
communication. The triggers can include a variety of possible speech acts
while an analysis of their effect will typically zoom-in on the formal
representations of agent's doxastic and epistemic attitudes as well as the
deontic status of action types available to them. The study of such logics
for communicative interaction can be approached from different disciplines,
including logic, epistemology, argumentation theory, social choice theory,
AI, Computer Science, and Philosophy. More specifically, this special
issue welcomes work on the following topics:
- Dynamic Logics of Communication
- Logics of Speech Acts
- Logics for Belief Change and Knowledge Updates
- Dynamic Epistemic Logics
- Logical analysis of Communication in Social Networks
- Dynamic Deontic Logic
All papers will be peer reviewed according to the standards of the Journal.
Authors are advised to read the CFP of the journal downloadable from the
following page:
https://rap-journal.net/call-for-papers/ .
All the conditions specified in the CFP of the journal apply except the
condition on the publication fee: papers accepted for publication in this
special issue will be published free of charge.
Submission details:
Manuscripts should be between 8000 and 10000 words and submitted as a
double-spaced Word document or PDF file with an abstract of around 150
words. They should be fully anonymized to ensure double-blind reviewing.
Manuscripts are submitted under the understanding that they have not been
published elsewhere, either in whole or in part, and are not currently
under review elsewhere. Submissions can be made via the online submission
form at
https://rap-journal.net/submit-for-authors/
or by email attachments (rap(a)myukk.org).
If the authors intend to use LaTeX for preparing the manuscript, please use
the standard article class and submit the manuscript in the form of a PDF
file (neither the source files nor the dvi file).
Submission Deadline: 31st October 2023 (Extended)
All inquiries should be sent to rap(a)myukk.org .
Guest co-editors of the special issue:
Sonja Smets
Tomoyuki Yamada
Dear all,
We will have our next LIRa session tomorrow, on Thursday, 7 September 16:30.
This will be a hybrid session. If you want to attend online, please use our recurring zoom link:
https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/89230639823?pwd=YWJuSnJmTDhXcWhmd1ZkeG5zb0o5UT09
(Meeting ID: 892 3063 9823, Passcode: 421723)
You can find the details of the talk below.
Speaker: Daniil Khaitovich (ILLC)
Date and Time: Thursday, September 7th 2023, 16:30-18:00
Venue: ILLC seminar room F1.15 in Science Park 107 and online
Title: Fixing group STIT logic
Abstract. STIT is a modal logic of agency to formalize statements of
the form "agent i sees to it that φ". One of its extensions, group
STIT, allows to reason not only about individual agents, but about
coalitions as well. The main advantage of that extension is its
expressivity: it was shown that it is strictly more expressive than
other popular multi-agent modal logics with coalitions such as
Coalition logic or Alternating-time temporal logic. Nevertheless, it
does not come for free: group STIT is neither decidable nor finitely
axiomatizable.
During the talk, we will identify one conceptual problem with group
STIT — the way groups and their actions are treated — and show the
weaker version of logic to escape it, providing it with finite axiom
system and proving its decidability as well. A number of connections
with logic of dependence and relativized cylindric algebras will be
shown as well.
Hope to see you there!
The LIRa team
Dear all,
We will have our first LIRa session for the new academic year next week on Thursday, 7 September 16:30.
This will be a hybrid session. If you want to attend online, please use our recurring zoom link:
https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/89230639823?pwd=YWJuSnJmTDhXcWhmd1ZkeG5zb0o5UT09
(Meeting ID: 892 3063 9823, Passcode: 421723)
You can find the details of the talk below.
Speaker: Daniil Khaitovich (ILLC)
Date and Time: Thursday, September 7th 2023, 16:30-18:00
Venue: ILLC seminar room F1.15 in Science Park 107 and online
Title: Fixing group STIT logic
Abstract. STIT is a modal logic of agency to formalize statements of
the form "agent i sees to it that φ". One of its extensions, group
STIT, allows to reason not only about individual agents, but about
coalitions as well. The main advantage of that extension is its
expressivity: it was shown that it is strictly more expressive than
other popular multi-agent modal logics with coalitions such as
Coalition logic or Alternating-time temporal logic. Nevertheless, it
does not come for free: group STIT is neither decidable nor finitely
axiomatizable.
During the talk, we will identify one conceptual problem with group
STIT — the way groups and their actions are treated — and show the
weaker version of logic to escape it, providing it with finite axiom
system and proving its decidability as well. A number of connections
with logic of dependence and relativized cylindric algebras will be
shown as well.
Hope to see you there!
The LIRa team