General

Welcome to my homepage. I am assistant professor in logic at the Institute of Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC) of the University of Amsterdam.
Recently I have started to work on an NWO veni- project with the title `The semantic anatomy of conditional sentences'. This project aims to unravel the compositional structure of conditional sentences cross-linguistically. A laymen summary of the project proposal can be found below.

• veni-project

CV

Last updated:

• may 2011

General Note

-- If you have any problems with the links on this page, please contact me --

Presentations

Here you can find the slidesof some presentations I have recently given.

• Groningen/Utrecht, spring 2012

• Sklarska Poreba, march 2011

• Paris, june 2010

• SuB 2009, Wien

Papers on the semantics of counterfactual conditionals

The main paper is the first one. It is published in a special issue of Synthese. The proofs of a couple of claims in this paper come in a separate document (the appendix). The second paper is an earlier and much longer version. It uses a different formalization of the truth conditions of conditionals. But this formalization makes wrong predictions in some cases, as has been pointed out to me by Sarah Moss.

• If you wiggle A, then B will change (short version, summer 2009, published in Synthese 2011)

• Appendix with proofs

Papers on tense and mood in conditional sentences

The first paper is an even newer (february 2012) version of my approach to Fake Tense, now spelled out in the framework for compositional semantics of Heim & Kratzer 1998 and Stechow 2009. There have been some substantial changes with respect to the earlier version, though the basic idea remained the same. The second paper is published in the proceedings of SALT 2008. It concerns the interpretation of tense in indicative conditionals. Goal of the paper is to explain why in indicative conditionals tenses can be interpreted as if anchored in the future instead in the utterance time.

• 1. Fake Tense paper (version february 2012)

• 2. Non-deictic tenses in conditionals (2008)

Papers on the compositional semantics of cnditionals

There are two papers here. The first is a somewhat outdated critique on a particular interpretation of the restrictor approach to conditionals. The paper below distinguishes two versions of the restrictor approach: a weak version which is the one that has been introduced by Kratzer (Kratzer [1977, 1979, 1981]) and a strong version that is the way the restrictor approach is presently used in many approaches to conditionals. The second part of the paper contains some arguments against the strong version of the restrictor approach. Aim of the paper is to stimulate a more critical and reflecting application of the restrictor approach.
The second paper makes a particular proposal for how to approach the semantics of conditionals compositionally. It is based on the idea that if-clauses should be analyzed as free relatives for possible worlds. The semantics is spelled out in plural compositional DRT, which is, as some would probably say, not for the fainthearted.  But  you get a lot back from the system, particularly an ontology that can meaningfully talk about pluralities of possible worlds. The approach embraces the weak interpretation of the restrictor approach.

• 1. Some thoughts about the modal approach to conditionals (2009)

• 2. A modal-free compositional approach to the semantics of conditional sentences (version June 2012)

Papers on exhaustivity and conversational implicatures

• 1. Pragmatic meaning and non-monotonic reasoning: the case of exhaustive interpretation (2006),with Robert vanRooij, Linguistics&Philosophy, 29(2):205-250.

• 2. A pragmatic solution for the paradox of free choice permission (2005), Synthese: Knowledge, Rationality and Action, 147(2):343-377.

Dissertation

Here you can download my dissertation (just scroll to the bottom of the page), finished in May 2007 and defended on November 2nd 2007. Chapter 2 and chapter 3 of the dissertation have already been published. These articles are reprinted here with the kind permission of Springer Science and Business Media. The links to the springer journals can be found below in the paper section. The material on conditionals is unpublished yet.

• Dissertation

Unpublished manuscripts

• Performative `may'

Master Thesis on Free Choice

Here is a link to my Master Thesis which Iwrote as part of the Master of Science in logic program of the University of Amsterdam. The title is `You may read it now or later: A case study on the paradox of free choice permission'.

• Master Thesis

Logica en de linguistic turn, Fall 2008 - 2012 bachelor philosophy (Dutch)

De cursus maakt onderdeel uit van het verplichte programma van de propedeuse van deBachelor Wijsbegeerte. Deze eerste inleiding in de logica heeft vier doelstellingen: 1. De student het minimum aan logica te leren dat nodig is om andere filosofische disciplines met vrucht te kunnen bestuderen. 2. De student enige vaardigheid bij te brengen in het hanteren van een formele logische theorie, en daarbij inzicht te verschaffen in het soort abstracties dat bij zo'n formalisering een rol speelt. 3. De student enig inzicht te geven in de plaats van de logica binnen de filosofie, zowel vanuit systematisch als vanuit historisch oogpunt. 4. De student vaardigheid bij te brengen in het analyseren van moeilijke filosofische teksten. Om de eerste twee doelstellingen te bereiken wordt een systematische inleiding gegeven in twee kern-systemen van de moderne logica: de propositielogica en de predikatenlogica. De derde en vierde doelstelling worden op twee manieren aangepakt.Ten eerste, doorhet lezen van gedeelten van Wittgenstein's Tractatus en zijn Philosophische Untersuchungen, waarin twee uiteenlopende visies op de logica, en de rol ervan in de filosofie, worden uiteengezet. Ten tweede, door een meer historisch getinte uiteenzetting over de plaats van de logica binnen de filosofie.

• UvA blackboard

LogicaWiki

This is a wiki I am working on. It is intended as support platform for the students of the Logic courses I'm teaching. This year I will start with a try out in the course Logica en de linguistic turn.

• LogicaWiki

Logische Analyse, Fall 2008 -2010, bachelor philosophy (Dutch)

Logische Analyse is eenkeuzevak in de bachelor wijsbegeerde. Het bouwd op op het propedeuse vak Logica en de linguistic turn. In de propedeuse heeft U kennis gemaakt met één logische theorie, de klassieke predikatenlogica. Het belangrijkste dat U daarbij geleerd heeft, is die theorie als analyse-instrument te gebruiken, zodat U filosofische teksten waarindie theorie gebruikt wordt op hun waarde kan schatten. In deze cursus wordt de aandacht gericht op andere aspecten van de logica-beoefening: 1. Metalogica, oftewel onderzoek naar de eigenschappen van logische theorieën. 2. Logische Analyse, i.e. het ontwikkelen en vergelijken van logische theorieën.

• UvA blackboard

Onderwijsprijs / Teaching Award

In 2011 the course Logische Analyse has won the teaching award of the faculty of humanities for the best BA course. For more information see the links below.

• Onderwijsprijs FGw

• Interview

Guest lecture "Logic, Language and Computation"

On October 26th, 2011 I gave a guest lecture in the MoL course  "Logic, Language and Computation" with the title Nixon, Light Switches and King Ludwig of Bavaria: How to Model Counterfactual Reasoning . The slides can be found below.

• LLC talk: slides

Natural language semantics, spring 2008, bachelor philosophy(together with Maria Aloni, English)

This is an undergraduade level introduction to natural language semantics. The course explains and motivates logical concepts and tools like thatof quantification,compositionality, lambda-abstractions, andputs them to use in the semantic analysis of natural language expressions like quantifying noun phrases, coordination and others. The detailed course information is accessible for students via the Uva-blackboard system.

• UvA blackboard

Department of Philosophy, Universiteit van Amsterdam

My teaching institute.

• Philosophy homepage

Institute for Logic, Language and Compuation (ILLC)

My research institute.

• ILLC homepage

• Geen nevenwerkzaamheden