Mental Logic Theory: A Paradigmatic Case for Empirical Research on the Language of Thought and Inferential Role Semantics
LI Shujin · Waiguoyu · 2013
The Language of Thought Hypothesis,which follows from proposals of Fodor[15]and Fodor and Pylyshyn [12],proposes that thinking takes place in a mental language,which has a representational format consisting both of a logical syntax and a logical semantics. Thinking thus can be conceived of as a set of syntactic operations on such representations. We argue that the semantics of such a system is best provided by an inference role semantics and that the mental logic theory of Braine and O'Brien [3]can provide a paradigmatic case study in how the empirical inves- tigation of the language of thought can proceed.