The Departmental Colloquium

 

Elitzur Bar-Asher Siegal

LLCC HUJI (a joint work with Rebekah Baglini, Aarhus University)

 

Structuring a model for Lexical causatives

In this paper I will propose a semantic analysis for various linguistic causative constructions, through the use of Structural Equation Models (SEMs) (Pearl 2000; Schulz 2011). This analysis takes linguistic expressions of causation, to commonly presuppose SEMs, while adding construction-specific entailments and pragmatic inferences, including various parameters concerning the selection of a cause among a set of conditions. This paper will propose a system, which captures formally Mackie's (1965) intuitions about INUS conditions – and the notion of sufficient sets of conditions. Consequently, this approach will allow us to solve some longstanding puzzles in the linguistics literature.

More broadly: I will try to reflect in this talk about the relationship between the philosophical and the linguistic literatures about causal statements.

 

 The lecture will be in English

 

January 8, 2018 | 12:30-14:00

Rabin Building 2001