Neil Tennant
Biographic Data
| ID | 1035481 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Neil Tennant |
| GIVEN NAMES | Neil |
| FAMILY NAME | Tennant |
| SIGNATURE | TENNANT N |
| AFFILIATIONS | The Ohio State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3523-2296 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 13 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 27 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1977 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
On the Adequacy of a Substructural Logic for Mathematics and Science
Williamson argues for the contention that substructural logics are 'ill-suited to acting as background logics for science'. That contention, if true, would be very important, but it is refutable, given what is already known about certain substructural logics. Classical Core Logic is a substructural logic, for it eschews the structural rules of Thinning and Cut and has Reflexivity as its only structural rule. Yet it suffices for classical mathemat…
Normalizability, cut eliminability and paradox
Introducting Philosophy: God, Mind, World, and Logic
Aristotle's Syllogistic and Core Logic
I use the Corcoran–Smiley interpretation of Aristotle's syllogistic as my starting point for an examination of the syllogistic from the vantage point of modern proof theory. I aim to show that fresh logical insights are afforded by a proof-theoretically more systematic account of all four figures. First I regiment the syllogisms in the Gentzen–Prawitz system of natural deduction, using the universal and existential quantifiers of standard first-o…
Parts, classes and Parts of Classes: An anti-realist reading of Lewisian mereology
Williamson’s Woes
Rule-Circularity and the Justification of Deduction
I examine Paul Boghossian's recent attempt to argue for scepticism about logical rules. I argue that certain rule‐and proof‐theoretic considerations can avert such scepticism. Boghossian's ‘Tonk Argument’ seeks to justify the rule of tonk‐introduction by using the rule itself. The argument is subjected here to more detailed proof‐theoretic scrutiny than Boghossian undertook. Its sole axiom, the so‐called Meaning Postulate for tonk, is shown to be…
A General Theory of Abstraction Operators
I present a general theory of abstraction operators which treats them as variable‐binding term‐forming operators, and provides a reasonably uniform treatment for definite descriptions, set abstracts, natural number abstraction, and real number abstraction. This minimizing, extensional and relational theory reveals a striking similarity between definite descriptions and set abstracts, and provides a clear rationale for the claim that there is a lo…
Anti-realist Aporias
Journal Article Anti-realist Aporias Get access N Tennant N Tennant Department of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 350 University Hall, 230 North Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210-1365, USA E-mail: [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Mind, Volume 109, Issue 436, October 2000, Pages 825–854, https://doi.org/10.1093/mind/109.436.825 Published: 01 October 2000
The Taming of the True
Sex and the Evolution of Fair-Dealing
Brian Skyrms has studied the evolutionary dynamics of a simple bargaining game. Fair-dealing is the strategy ’demand 1/2’, competing with the more modest strategy ‘demand 1/3’ and the greedier strategy ‘demand 2/3’. Individuals leave offspring in proportion to their accumulated payoffs. The rules for payoffs from encounters penalize low- and high-demanders. The result is a significant basin of attraction for fair-dealing as an evolutionarily stab…
Changing the Theory of Theory Change: Reply to My Critics
‘Changing the Theory of Theory Change: Towards a Computational Approach’ (Tennant [1994]; henceforth CTTC) claimed that the AGM postulate of recovery is false, and that AGM contractions of theories can be more than minimally mutilating. It also described an alternative, computational method for contracting theories, called the Staining Algorithm. Makinson [1995] and Hansson and Rott [1995] criticized CTTC's arguments against AGM-theory, and its s…
Changing the Theory of Theory Change: Towards a Computational Approach
The Theory of theory change has contraction and revision as its central notions. Of these, contraction is the more fundamental. The best-known theory, due to Alchourrón, Gärdenfors, and Makinson, is based on a few central postulates. The most fundamental of these is the principle of recovery: if one contracts a theory with respect to a sentence, and then adds that sentence back again, one recovers the whole theory.Recovery is demonstrably false. …
Anti-Realism and Logic
Journal Article Book Reviews Get access Anti-Realism and Logic. By Neil Tennant. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987. Pp. xii + 325. Price £32.50) Michael Luntley Michael Luntley University College, Oxford Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 39, Issue 156, July 1989, Pages 361–364, https://doi.org/10.2307/2220178 Published: 01 July 1989
Anti-realism and logic: Truth as Eternal
Philosophy, Evolution and Human Nature
Philosophy, Evolution and Human Nature
Journal Article Book Reviews Get access Philosophy, Evolution and Human Nature. By Florian von Schilcher and Neil Tennant (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1984. Pp. viii + 283. Price £15.95) Flint Schier Flint Schier University of Glasgow Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 35, Issue 139, April 1985, Pages 205–207, https://doi.org/10.2307/2219349 Published: 01 April 1985
Minimal Logic Is Adequate for Popperian Science
In defence of evolutionary epistemology
Natural Logic
Journal Article Book Reviews Get access Natural Logic. By Neil Tennant. (Edinburgh: Edinburgh U.P., 1978. Pp. ix + 196. Price £7.50) H. A. Lewis H. A. Lewis Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 31, Issue 125, October 1981, Pages 376–377, https://doi.org/10.2307/2219412 Published: 01 October 1981
From Logic to Philosophies
Multiple Conclusion Logic
Journal Article Book Reviews Get access Multiple Conclusion Logic. By D. J. Shoesmith and T. J. Smiley ( C.U.P. 1978. Pp. xiii + 396. Price £15.00) N. Tennant N. Tennant Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 30, Issue 121, October 1980, Pages 379–382, https://doi.org/10.2307/2219541 Published: 01 October 1980
XI—Entailment and Proofs
XI—Entailment and Proofs Get access N. Tennant N. Tennant Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 79, Issue 1, 1 June 1979, Pages 167–190, https://doi.org/10.1093/aristotelian/79.1.167 Published: 08 September 2015
Language games and intuitionism
Collected Papers on Epistemology, Philosophy of Science and History of Philosophy, Vols. I and II
Journal Article Book Reviews Get access Collected Papers on Epistemology, Philosophy of Science and History of Philosophy, Vols. I and II. By W. Stegmüller. Translated by B. Martini and W. Wohlueter. (Dordreoht & Boston: Reidel. 1977. Pp. xiv+240, xiv + 286.) Neil Tennant Neil Tennant Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 29, Issue 116, July 1979, Pages 270–272, https://doi.or…
Williamson’s Woes
Normalizability, cut eliminability and paradox
A General Theory of Abstraction Operators
I present a general theory of abstraction operators which treats them as variable‐binding term‐forming operators, and provides a reasonably uniform treatment for definite descriptions, set abstracts, natural number abstraction, and real number abstraction. This minimizing, extensional and relational theory reveals a striking similarity between definite descriptions and set abstracts, and provides a clear rationale for the claim that there is a lo…
Changing the Theory of Theory Change: Towards a Computational Approach
The Theory of theory change has contraction and revision as its central notions. Of these, contraction is the more fundamental. The best-known theory, due to Alchourrón, Gärdenfors, and Makinson, is based on a few central postulates. The most fundamental of these is the principle of recovery: if one contracts a theory with respect to a sentence, and then adds that sentence back again, one recovers the whole theory.Recovery is demonstrably false. …
On the Adequacy of a Substructural Logic for Mathematics and Science
Williamson argues for the contention that substructural logics are 'ill-suited to acting as background logics for science'. That contention, if true, would be very important, but it is refutable, given what is already known about certain substructural logics. Classical Core Logic is a substructural logic, for it eschews the structural rules of Thinning and Cut and has Reflexivity as its only structural rule. Yet it suffices for classical mathemat…
Parts, classes and Parts of Classes: An anti-realist reading of Lewisian mereology
Sex and the Evolution of Fair-Dealing
Brian Skyrms has studied the evolutionary dynamics of a simple bargaining game. Fair-dealing is the strategy ’demand 1/2’, competing with the more modest strategy ‘demand 1/3’ and the greedier strategy ‘demand 2/3’. Individuals leave offspring in proportion to their accumulated payoffs. The rules for payoffs from encounters penalize low- and high-demanders. The result is a significant basin of attraction for fair-dealing as an evolutionarily stab…
Language games and intuitionism
Language in Focus: Foundations, Methods and Systems
Meaning and Modality
Journal Article Book Reviews Get access Meaning and Modality. By Casimir Lewy. (Cambridge: C.U.P. 1976. Pp. xii+160. Price £6.50) Neil Tennant Neil Tennant Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 27, Issue 108, July 1977, Pages 268–270, https://doi.org/10.2307/2218789 Published: 01 July 1977
XI—Entailment and Proofs
XI—Entailment and Proofs Get access N. Tennant N. Tennant Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 79, Issue 1, 1 June 1979, Pages 167–190, https://doi.org/10.1093/aristotelian/79.1.167 Published: 08 September 2015
Language games and intuitionism
Collected Papers on Epistemology, Philosophy of Science and History of Philosophy, Vols. I and II
Journal Article Book Reviews Get access Collected Papers on Epistemology, Philosophy of Science and History of Philosophy, Vols. I and II. By W. Stegmüller. Translated by B. Martini and W. Wohlueter. (Dordreoht & Boston: Reidel. 1977. Pp. xiv+240, xiv + 286.) Neil Tennant Neil Tennant Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 29, Issue 116, July 1979, Pages 270–272, https://doi.or…
Multiple Conclusion Logic
Journal Article Book Reviews Get access Multiple Conclusion Logic. By D. J. Shoesmith and T. J. Smiley ( C.U.P. 1978. Pp. xiii + 396. Price £15.00) N. Tennant N. Tennant Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 30, Issue 121, October 1980, Pages 379–382, https://doi.org/10.2307/2219541 Published: 01 October 1980
Natural Logic
Journal Article Book Reviews Get access Natural Logic. By Neil Tennant. (Edinburgh: Edinburgh U.P., 1978. Pp. ix + 196. Price £7.50) H. A. Lewis H. A. Lewis Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 31, Issue 125, October 1981, Pages 376–377, https://doi.org/10.2307/2219412 Published: 01 October 1981
From Logic to Philosophies
In defence of evolutionary epistemology
Philosophy, Evolution and Human Nature
Philosophy, Evolution and Human Nature
Journal Article Book Reviews Get access Philosophy, Evolution and Human Nature. By Florian von Schilcher and Neil Tennant (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1984. Pp. viii + 283. Price £15.95) Flint Schier Flint Schier University of Glasgow Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 35, Issue 139, April 1985, Pages 205–207, https://doi.org/10.2307/2219349 Published: 01 April 1985
Minimal Logic Is Adequate for Popperian Science
Anti-realism and logic: Truth as Eternal
Anti-Realism and Logic
Journal Article Book Reviews Get access Anti-Realism and Logic. By Neil Tennant. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987. Pp. xii + 325. Price £32.50) Michael Luntley Michael Luntley University College, Oxford Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 39, Issue 156, July 1989, Pages 361–364, https://doi.org/10.2307/2220178 Published: 01 July 1989
Changing the Theory of Theory Change: Towards a Computational Approach
The Theory of theory change has contraction and revision as its central notions. Of these, contraction is the more fundamental. The best-known theory, due to Alchourrón, Gärdenfors, and Makinson, is based on a few central postulates. The most fundamental of these is the principle of recovery: if one contracts a theory with respect to a sentence, and then adds that sentence back again, one recovers the whole theory.Recovery is demonstrably false. …
Changing the Theory of Theory Change: Reply to My Critics
‘Changing the Theory of Theory Change: Towards a Computational Approach’ (Tennant [1994]; henceforth CTTC) claimed that the AGM postulate of recovery is false, and that AGM contractions of theories can be more than minimally mutilating. It also described an alternative, computational method for contracting theories, called the Staining Algorithm. Makinson [1995] and Hansson and Rott [1995] criticized CTTC's arguments against AGM-theory, and its s…
Sex and the Evolution of Fair-Dealing
Brian Skyrms has studied the evolutionary dynamics of a simple bargaining game. Fair-dealing is the strategy ’demand 1/2’, competing with the more modest strategy ‘demand 1/3’ and the greedier strategy ‘demand 2/3’. Individuals leave offspring in proportion to their accumulated payoffs. The rules for payoffs from encounters penalize low- and high-demanders. The result is a significant basin of attraction for fair-dealing as an evolutionarily stab…
Anti-realist Aporias
Journal Article Anti-realist Aporias Get access N Tennant N Tennant Department of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 350 University Hall, 230 North Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210-1365, USA E-mail: [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Mind, Volume 109, Issue 436, October 2000, Pages 825–854, https://doi.org/10.1093/mind/109.436.825 Published: 01 October 2000
The Taming of the True
A General Theory of Abstraction Operators
I present a general theory of abstraction operators which treats them as variable‐binding term‐forming operators, and provides a reasonably uniform treatment for definite descriptions, set abstracts, natural number abstraction, and real number abstraction. This minimizing, extensional and relational theory reveals a striking similarity between definite descriptions and set abstracts, and provides a clear rationale for the claim that there is a lo…
Rule-Circularity and the Justification of Deduction
I examine Paul Boghossian's recent attempt to argue for scepticism about logical rules. I argue that certain rule‐and proof‐theoretic considerations can avert such scepticism. Boghossian's ‘Tonk Argument’ seeks to justify the rule of tonk‐introduction by using the rule itself. The argument is subjected here to more detailed proof‐theoretic scrutiny than Boghossian undertook. Its sole axiom, the so‐called Meaning Postulate for tonk, is shown to be…
Williamson’s Woes
Parts, classes and Parts of Classes: An anti-realist reading of Lewisian mereology
Aristotle's Syllogistic and Core Logic
I use the Corcoran–Smiley interpretation of Aristotle's syllogistic as my starting point for an examination of the syllogistic from the vantage point of modern proof theory. I aim to show that fresh logical insights are afforded by a proof-theoretically more systematic account of all four figures. First I regiment the syllogisms in the Gentzen–Prawitz system of natural deduction, using the universal and existential quantifiers of standard first-o…
Introducting Philosophy: God, Mind, World, and Logic
Philosophy (24 works) · Epistemology (19 works) · Computer Science (16 works) · Mathematics (9 works) · Philosophy and Theoretical Science (9 works) · Logic, Reasoning, and Knowledge (8 works) · Linguistics (7 works) · Philosophy of science (7 works) · Artificial Intelligence (5 works) · Philosophy and History of Science (5 works)