Luca Incurvati
Biographic Data
| ID | 1219658 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Luca Incurvati |
| GIVEN NAMES | Luca |
| FAMILY NAME | Incurvati |
| SIGNATURE | INCURVATI L |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Amsterdam |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7381-7378 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 8 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 11 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
A plea for multilateralism
Ulf Hlobil and Robert Brandom defend a normative-pragmatic interpretation of implication and incompatibility cashed out in bilateral terms. Using epistemic modal cases, I argue that Hlobil and Brandom's normative-pragmatic interpretation of implication fails to account for the force of consequence and to provide an extensionally adequate characterization of implication. I also show that the same cases cause trouble for Hlobil and Brandom's condit…
On Logical and Scientific Strength
The notion of strength has featured prominently in recent debates about abductivism in the epistemology of logic. Following Timothy Williamson and Gillian Russell, we distinguish between logical and scientific strength and discuss the limits of the characterizations they employ. We then suggest understanding logical strength in terms of interpretability strength and scientific strength as a special case of logical strength. We present application…
The rejection game
We introduce the rejection game, designed to formalize the interaction between interlocutors in a Stalnakerian conversation: a speaker who asserts something and a listener who may accept or reject. The rejection game is similar to other signalling games known to the literature in economics and biology. We point out similarities and differences, and propose an application in linguistics. We uncover basic conditions under which the Gricean maxim of…
Non-assertoric speech acts
The Evolution of Denial
Negation is common to all human languages. What explains its universality? Our hypothesis is that the emergence of expressions for denial, such as the word ‘not’, is an adaptation to existing conditions in the social and informational environment: a specific linguistic form was co-opted to express denial, given a preference for information sharing, the limits of a finite lexicon, and localized social repercussions against synonymy. In support of …
Update rules and semantic universals
We discuss a well-known puzzle about the lexicalization of logical operators in natural language, in particular connectives and quantifiers. Of the many logically possible operators, only few appear in the lexicon of natural languages: the connectives in English, for example, are conjunction and , disjunction or , and negated disjunction nor ; the lexical quantifiers are all, some and no . The logically possible (negated conjunction) and (negated…
Epistemic Modals in Hypothetical Reasoning
Data involving epistemic modals suggest that some classically valid argument forms, such as reductio , are invalid in natural language reasoning as they lead to modal collapses. We adduce further data showing that the classical argument forms governing the existential quantifier are similarly defective, as they lead to a de re–de dicto collapse. We observe a similar problem for disjunction. But if the classical argument forms for negation, disjun…
Inferential Deflationism
Deflationists about truth hold that the function of the truth predicate is to enable us to make certain assertions we could not otherwise make. Pragmatists claim that the utility of negation lies in its role in registering incompatibility. The pragmatist insight about negation has been successfully incorporated into bilateral theories of content, which take the meaning of negation to be inferentially explained in terms of the speech act of reject…
The Varieties of Agnosticism
We provide a framework for understanding agnosticism. The framework accounts for the varieties of agnosticism while vindicating the unity of the phenomenon. This combination of unity and plurality is achieved by taking the varieties of agnosticism to be represented by several agnostic stances, all of which share a common core provided by what we call the minimal agnostic attitude. We illustrate the fruitfulness of the framework by showing how it …
Weak Assertion
We present an inferentialist account of the epistemic modal operator might. Our starting point is the bilateralist programme. A bilateralist explains the operator not in terms of the speech act of rejection; we explain the operator might in terms of weak assertion, a speech act whose existence we argue for on the basis of linguistic evidence. We show that our account of might provides a solution to certain well-known puzzles about the semantics o…
On the concept of finitism
The Varieties of Agnosticism
We provide a framework for understanding agnosticism. The framework accounts for the varieties of agnosticism while vindicating the unity of the phenomenon. This combination of unity and plurality is achieved by taking the varieties of agnosticism to be represented by several agnostic stances, all of which share a common core provided by what we call the minimal agnostic attitude. We illustrate the fruitfulness of the framework by showing how it …
Weak Assertion
We present an inferentialist account of the epistemic modal operator might. Our starting point is the bilateralist programme. A bilateralist explains the operator not in terms of the speech act of rejection; we explain the operator might in terms of weak assertion, a speech act whose existence we argue for on the basis of linguistic evidence. We show that our account of might provides a solution to certain well-known puzzles about the semantics o…
The Evolution of Denial
Negation is common to all human languages. What explains its universality? Our hypothesis is that the emergence of expressions for denial, such as the word ‘not’, is an adaptation to existing conditions in the social and informational environment: a specific linguistic form was co-opted to express denial, given a preference for information sharing, the limits of a finite lexicon, and localized social repercussions against synonymy. In support of …
On the concept of finitism
Weak Assertion
We present an inferentialist account of the epistemic modal operator might. Our starting point is the bilateralist programme. A bilateralist explains the operator not in terms of the speech act of rejection; we explain the operator might in terms of weak assertion, a speech act whose existence we argue for on the basis of linguistic evidence. We show that our account of might provides a solution to certain well-known puzzles about the semantics o…
The Varieties of Agnosticism
We provide a framework for understanding agnosticism. The framework accounts for the varieties of agnosticism while vindicating the unity of the phenomenon. This combination of unity and plurality is achieved by taking the varieties of agnosticism to be represented by several agnostic stances, all of which share a common core provided by what we call the minimal agnostic attitude. We illustrate the fruitfulness of the framework by showing how it …
Update rules and semantic universals
We discuss a well-known puzzle about the lexicalization of logical operators in natural language, in particular connectives and quantifiers. Of the many logically possible operators, only few appear in the lexicon of natural languages: the connectives in English, for example, are conjunction and , disjunction or , and negated disjunction nor ; the lexical quantifiers are all, some and no . The logically possible (negated conjunction) and (negated…
Epistemic Modals in Hypothetical Reasoning
Data involving epistemic modals suggest that some classically valid argument forms, such as reductio , are invalid in natural language reasoning as they lead to modal collapses. We adduce further data showing that the classical argument forms governing the existential quantifier are similarly defective, as they lead to a de re–de dicto collapse. We observe a similar problem for disjunction. But if the classical argument forms for negation, disjun…
Inferential Deflationism
Deflationists about truth hold that the function of the truth predicate is to enable us to make certain assertions we could not otherwise make. Pragmatists claim that the utility of negation lies in its role in registering incompatibility. The pragmatist insight about negation has been successfully incorporated into bilateral theories of content, which take the meaning of negation to be inferentially explained in terms of the speech act of reject…
The rejection game
We introduce the rejection game, designed to formalize the interaction between interlocutors in a Stalnakerian conversation: a speaker who asserts something and a listener who may accept or reject. The rejection game is similar to other signalling games known to the literature in economics and biology. We point out similarities and differences, and propose an application in linguistics. We uncover basic conditions under which the Gricean maxim of…
Non-assertoric speech acts
The Evolution of Denial
Negation is common to all human languages. What explains its universality? Our hypothesis is that the emergence of expressions for denial, such as the word ‘not’, is an adaptation to existing conditions in the social and informational environment: a specific linguistic form was co-opted to express denial, given a preference for information sharing, the limits of a finite lexicon, and localized social repercussions against synonymy. In support of …
On Logical and Scientific Strength
The notion of strength has featured prominently in recent debates about abductivism in the epistemology of logic. Following Timothy Williamson and Gillian Russell, we distinguish between logical and scientific strength and discuss the limits of the characterizations they employ. We then suggest understanding logical strength in terms of interpretability strength and scientific strength as a special case of logical strength. We present application…
A plea for multilateralism
Ulf Hlobil and Robert Brandom defend a normative-pragmatic interpretation of implication and incompatibility cashed out in bilateral terms. Using epistemic modal cases, I argue that Hlobil and Brandom's normative-pragmatic interpretation of implication fails to account for the force of consequence and to provide an extensionally adequate characterization of implication. I also show that the same cases cause trouble for Hlobil and Brandom's condit…
Philosophy (10 works) · Computer Science (8 works) · Epistemology (8 works) · Linguistics (5 works) · Philosophy and Theoretical Science (5 works) · Mathematics (4 works) · Metaphysics (4 works) · Logic, Reasoning, and Knowledge (3 works) · Philosophy (3 works) · Philosophy of language (3 works)