GRAD STUDENTS: Undecidability
and Incompleteness (LPS 205C)
UNDERGRADS: Probability and Statistics (Econ 15A-B)
UNDERGRADS: Probability and Statistics (Econ 15A-B)
Kent Johnson
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Department of Logic & Philosophy of ScienceInstitute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences |
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About Me
- 2015a, "Realism and Uncertainty of Unobservable Common Causes in Factor Analysis", Nous [Paper]
- 2015b, "Notational Variants and Invariance in Linguistics", Mind and Language [Paper]
- 2014a, "Maps, Languages, and Manguages: Rival Cognitive Architectures?", Philosophical Psychology [Paper]
- 2014b, "Methodology in Generative Linguistics: Scratching Below the Surface", Language Sciences 44, 47 - 59. [Paper]
- 2011, "A Lot of Data", Philosophy of Science 78:5, 788 - 799. [Paper]
- A natural type of strategy for explicitly estimating the size of a linguistic data set fails; a subsequent theorem generalizes this impossibility in multiple ways.
- 2011, "Quantitative Realizations of Philosophy of Science: William Whewell and Statistical Methods", Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 42, 399 - 409. [Paper]
- An examination of William Whewell's (1794 - 1866) philosophy of science from the perspective of contemporary statistical methods.
- 2010,
“Answering a Question with the Wrong Statistics”, The Work
Style Magazine, #5, October 2010, p. 17. [Paper]
- An informal consideration of how such simple errors as "Simpson's Paradox" can occur in everyday life.
- 2009a, “On Failing to Capture Some (or Even All) of What is
Communicated”, Context, Compositionality, and Semantic
Value (Robert Stainton and Chris Viger, eds.)
- Examination of the logical role of residuals in statistical and linguistic theorizing
- 2009b, “The Need for Explicit Inferential Methods in
Linguistics”, Language and Linguistics: Emerging Trends
(Cynthia R. Dreyer, ed.)
- Inferences in theoretical linguistics typically take the form of qualitative and holistic professional judgments. However, it is well-known that in much less complex situations, such judgments are usually less accurate than professionals believe, and are outperformed by crude but explicit inferential methods.
- 2008a, “Reply to Philipona and O’Regan”, Visual Neuroscience 25:2, 221 – 224. (with Wayne Wright) [Paper]
- An examination of the
intrinsically multivariate nature of lexical semantics, and
the relevance of such research to philosophy.
- 2007a, “The legacy of methodological dualism”, Mind and Language 22:4, 366 – 401. [Paper]
- By extracting some ubiquitous aspects of scientific methodology from their typically quantitative expression, two recent critiques of linguistics are shown to be ill-founded. But some important divergences between the methods of linguistics and the other ordinary sciences are uncovered.
- Experimental study of subjects'
relative awareness of semantic and syntactic features. A
spectrum of appropriate tacit/accessible distinctions are
available and appropriate.
- 2006a, “Colors as properties of the special sciences” (w/ Wayne Wright), Erkenntnis 64 139 – 168. [Paper]
- Much debate in the philosophy
of color is wrong-headed. For science, colors may be
regarded simply as corresponding to latent variables in a
model of the data. Many philosophical issues have
straightforward but nontrivial empirical constraints that
should be addressed before the philosophizing.
- 2006b, “On the nature of reverse compositionality”. Erkenntnis 64, 37 – 60. [Paper]
- The general claim that language
is 'reverse compositional - i.e., you can't understand
“brown hat” without understanding “hat” is a false
generalization about human languages. The underlying grain
of truth about it has to do with sentence processing, not
linguistic theory per se.
- 2006c,
“Externalist
Thoughts
and
the
Scope
of
Linguistics”,
in
Gerhard
Preyer
(ed.)
Protosociology 22: Contemporary
Problems in Cognitive Science. [Paper]
- Linguistic theories
are like psychophysical and statistical models in exploiting
formal structure that doesn't represent anything in the
empirical subject of study. Examination of recent attempts
to justify theories of knowledge-how by appeal to linguistic
evidence.
- 2004a,
“Gold’s
Theorem
and
Cognitive
Science”,
Philosophy of Science 71, 571 – 592. [Paper]
(An earlier abbreviated version is to appear in Proceedings
of the
- Examination of the logic of Gold’s Theorem and its proof. Presentation and analysis of many inaccurate claims about the theorem, followed with an interpretation and assessment of it.
- 2004b, “On the Systematicity of Language and Thought” The Journal of Philosophy CI:3, 111 – 139. [Paper]
- Any characterization of
systematicity must employ some notion of linguistic
categories. Current linguistic theory does not supply the
categories needed to make sense of systematicity.
- 2004c, “From Impossible Words to Conceptual Structure: The Role of Structure and Processes in the Lexicon”, Mind and Language 19:3, 334 – 358. [Paper]
- Several strategies
for avoiding positing structure and processing in the
lexicon are shown to be faulty. The relation between words
and concepts is less straightforward than is sometimes
thought.
- 2004d, “Tacit Belief, Semantics, and Grammar”, Linguistics and Philosophy 27, 57 – 91. [Paper]
- Our awareness of
(unpronounced) semantic features of language and our lack of
awareness of (unpronounced) syntactic features of our
language are both highly robust. The strength of this
distinction supports several claims about the cognitive
organization of language and thought.
- Review of major positions regarding knowledge of language.
- 2003, “Are There Semantic Natural Kinds of Words?”, Mind and Language 18:2, 175 - 193. [Paper]
- Replies to two of Evans’
arguments for individuating semantic natural kinds of words.
The linguistic details of the replies induce a positive
theory of these kinds.
- 2002, “Does syntax reveal semantics? A case study of complex
demonstratives”, in J. Tomberlin (ed.) Philosophical
Perspectives 16, 17 – 41 (with Ernie Lepore). Early
version available as
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Syntactic evidence shows complex
demonstratives are determiners, but not obviously also
quantifiers. Syntax and semantics may not track each other
perfectly in natural languages.
- 1997, “Luck and Good Fortune in the Eudemian Ethics”, Ancient Philosophy, Vol. 17, pp. 85-102. [Paper]
- Aristotle’s physical discussion of tuchê (‘luck’) and eutuchia (‘good fortune’) supports a unified interpretation of Aristotle’s ethical discussion of these terms, in contrast to Kenny’s interpretation.
Book
Reviews, Dictionary Entries, etc.
- 2005, Review of Paul Pietroski Events and Semantic Architecture, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews [Paper]
- 2004, Entries for Keith Donnellan, Zelig Harris, Jerrold Katz, Terence Parsons, Brian Skyrms, Zeno Vendler. Dictionary of American Philosophers. Thommes Press. [Entries]
- 2002, “Review of David Cockburn, An introduction to the philosophy of mind”, Philosophy in Review, Vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 108-110. [Paper]
- 2002, “Review of Paul Grice, Aspects of Reason”, Australasian Journal of Philosophy 80:3, 381 – 383. [Paper]
| Courses |
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Probability
and Statistics (Econ 15A-B) Effective
Processes
and
Incompleteness
(LPS
105C, 205C/ Phil 105C, 205C) Measurement
Theory (with Louis
Narens)
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Other Stuff
- my lineage
- Here
is an early attempt to theoretically distinguish birds and
reptiles.
- A visual autobiography.
Contact Information
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Office: |
SST 755 |
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Phone: |
(949) 824-8968 |
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Email: |
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Mail: |
3151 Social Science Plaza A
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Fax: |
(949) 824 - 8388 |
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