Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Modality'
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1
Menzies, Stacey. "Nsyilxcen modality : semantic analysis of epistemic modality." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/43809.
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The aim of this thesis is to describe and analyze the modal system of Nsyilxcen, an Interior Salish language spoken in south central British Columbia and northern Washington State. In particular, it focuses on the epistemic modals mat and cmay, which express necessity and possibility with respect to certain bodies of knowledge. Similar to modals in St'át'imcets (Rullmann et al. 2008) and Gitksan (Peterson 2010) these modals lexically encode an epistemic modal base and an indirect inferential evidential restriction. I propose that these two modals can be distinguished based on their modal force distinction, where mat has variable modal force and cmay a strictly encoded existential modal force. Based on these generalizations, I propose a formal semantic analysis for the epistemic modals drawing from Kratzer (1977, 1981, 1991, 2012), Rullmann et al. (2008), Peterson (2010), and Deal (2011). The analysis defines each modal in a way that accounts for the strictly encoded modal base and evidential restriction, as well as the variable modal force for mat and the strictly encoded existential modal force for cmay. In addition to the epistemic modals mat and cmay this thesis documents the reportative modal kʷukʷ as well as how Nsyilxcen encodes non-epistemic modality. It looks at the bouletic modal cakʷ and how Nsyilxcen encodes a deontic, circumstantial, ability, and teleological modal base which makes use of the irrealis marker ks-, imperative markers -x and -ikʷ, or the basic predicate, depending on the addressee and the context. This thesis will discuss how the Nsyilxcen system fits into a preliminary modal typology based on the semantics of these modals.
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Boylan, David (David Henry). "Subjective modality." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/120670.
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Thesis: Ph. D. in Linguistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2018.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 99-104).
This dissertation focuses on subjective or epistemic readings of the modals 'might' and 'should' and considers how they fit into broader theories of modal vocabulary. Chapter 1, 'What the Future "Might" Brings', develops a puzzle about epistemic modals and tense, showing that future tensed epistemic modals are surprisingly marked in cases of predictable forgetting. It gives a solution whereupon epistemic modals are monotonic: their domains only shrink going forward in time. It is noted that this property is also a feature of circumstantial modals and a new general picture of how epistemic and historical modality are related is proposed. Chapter 2, 'Putting "Ought"s Together', argues that deontic but not epistemic 'ought's appear to obey the inference pattern Agglomeration. It gives a new semantics for 'ought', where it is an existential quantifier over best propositions, and shows how this semantics together with pragmatic features of deontic contexts can explain the differing inferential properties of deontics and epistemics. Chapter 3, 'More Miners', generalises the now infamous miners problem to epistemic 'ought's. It shows that conservative non-probabilistic solutions do not extend to epistemic cases with the same structure. It solves the problem using probabilisitic orderings over propositions and draws some morals about the metasemantics of such orderings and the role of neutrality in the semantics of deontic modals.
by David Boylan.
Ph. D. in Linguistics
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Larm, Lars Ingemar. "Modality in Japanese." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.485462.
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This thesis offers a detailed structural account of a full range of grammatical markers available for the expression of modality in Japanese. Twenty modal expressions are systematically analyzed in the context of a Western typological approach, with special attention being paid to the issue of subjectivity, in the spirit of the indigenous grammatical tradition. The approach is a distributional one in which the elusive distinction between subjective and objective modality is subjected to scrutiny by the employment of a battery of overt tests. These diagnostics are designed to ensure that the theoretical distinction rests on empirical foundations . A distinctive mark of the present work is the attempt to make a genuine synthesis of ideas drawn from the Japanese tradition and Western linguistic theory, and, it is emphasized that this amalgamation opens up new dimensions for the study of modality. The most important contribution of the Japanese grammarians is that they have highlighted the fact that the expression of subjectivity permeates linguistic coding, a theoretical insight which presents itself directly from the structural facts of Japanese. The methodological approach taken here, that is, the employment of both general and Japanese frameworks in combination with a strictly distributional approach, leads to a three-way analysis of modality: a morphological taxonomy, a semantic taxonomy, and a subjectivity-degree taxonomy. The thesis concludes with an indication of how the approach can be further extended.
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Capone, Alessandro. "Modality and discourse." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.363623.
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Berkovski, Yehezkel Sandy. "Approaches to modality." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2005. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.418841.
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McCarthy, Andrew Joseph. "Existence and modality." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.600731.
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In this dissertation I defend the non-contingency of objecthood: whatever is something is necessarily something; whatever there could have been is actually something. My defence begins by establishing that the non-contingency of objecthood is connected to the Barcan Formulas of first-order modal logic: the latter are valid schemas exactly if objecthood is non-contingent. Furthermore, the Barcan Formulas are themselves theorems of a particularly attractive system of first-order modal logic. Nevertheless, the presence of intuitive inform al counter-examples raises doubts over their form al validity. Since questions of validity are most naturally investigated in the formal semantics, 1 note that although firs t-order modal logic with the Barcan Formulas is correct over an attractively simple class of models, Kripke famously identified models on which they are untrue. Nevertheless, I argue that the existence of such models fails undermine the thought that that Barcan Formulas are valid on their intended interpretations. I diagnose this failure as resulting from the use in Kripke's semantics of a non-modal meta-language in which facts about validity' for modal logic are reduced to non-modal facts. Although this reduction is wholly warranted in terms of advancing the technical study of modal logics. it is inadequate to the ambition of explaining the alleged invalidity of the Barcan Formulas. This motivates the thought that a more homophonic sort of semantics for modal logic might be a better tool to adjudicate the dispute. I develop a natural homophonic semantics for first-order modal logic and argue that it validates the Barcan Fonnulas. A modification to this theory designed to avoid this consequence is found unacceptable. This completes the logical case for the non-contingency of objecthood. In the remainder of the dissertation I consider how the Barcan Formulas interact with some other issues in modal metaphysics. First, I consider whether they are incompatible with Actualism, the much espoused view that everything actually exists. I argue that on the relevant reading of 'exists' Actualism is itself a logical truth, with the result that it offers no constraint on theories in modal metaphysics. Fin ally, I consider Predication Actualism, the view that objects cannot have properties without existing. I argue that only with ad hoc restrictions on the logic of predicate abstraction can one combine this view with the denial of the Barcan Formulas; and that further difficulties for this combination emerge when Predication Actualism is formulated in second order modal logic.
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Badran, Dany. "Ideology through modality." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2002. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/12216/.
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This study is broadly concerned with the analysis of ideology in discourse. More specifically, it investigates the role modality plays in reflecting underlying ideologies as well as ideological inconsistencies in three practical analyses of discourse. Achieving these objectives is, I argue, dependent on a view of discourse which is not only functional but also pragmatic. The functional aspect of this view reflects the broad objectives of functional linguistics: i.e. relating linguistic structures to social structures. The pragmatic aspect reflects an emphasis on the need not to exclude 'the reader' from the process of interpretation. Whereas previous studies have either entirely neglected or presented an unsatisfactory account of the reader, the proposed functional-pragmatic approach to discourse analysis resolves this issue by allowing a systematic variance in interpretation. This is done in the light of a systematic account of modality which helps present a realistic and practical consideration of the role of the reader in approaching discourse analysis. Again, in line with a functional and pragmatic view of discourse, the argument put forward in this study is that all 'types' of discourse can be approached in a similar manner for critical analysis. Consequently, practical analyses of ideology through modality in three instances of discourse: literary texts, political texts and scientific texts are presented. The overall aim is to show how a systematic, functional and pragmatic analysis of modality is adequate in critically analysing the ideologies present in all texts.
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Marti, Robert. "Multi-modality mammography." Thesis, University of East Anglia, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.251724.
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Hacquard, Valentine. "Aspects of modality." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/37421.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (p. 205-214).
It is a cross-linguistically robust fact that the same modal auxiliaries come in different flavors: epistemic, deontic, ability, teleological... This fact is neatly captured in a system where each modal has a single lexical entry, where the difference in flavor comes from contextually-provided accessibility relations (cf. Lewis 1973, Kratzer 1981). Equally robust, however, are the phenomena that suggest that epistemics and a subset of deontics are interpreted higher than the remaining flavors (subsumed under the label 'root modals'). The goal of this dissertation is to show that a unified analysis of modal auxiliaries is maintainable, while still providing some principled explanation for the relative ordering of tense, aspect and the various modals in Cinque's (1999) hierarchy, based on evidence in French and Italian. To make sense of the relative scope of modals w.r.t. tense and aspect, I start with the empirical puzzle that aspect interacts differently with the various modal flavors. Perfective aspect on roots in French and Italian yields 'actuality entailments' (cf. Bhatt 1999), that is, an uncancelable inference that the proposition expressed by the complement holds in the actual world, and not merely in some possible world(s).
(cont.) I propose that this inference obtains when aspect scopes above the modal, and must therefore take the actual world as its world argument. Because epistemics/deontics are interpreted above aspect, they are immune to the effect. To derive the height problem, I propose to relativize the accessibility relation of a modal to an event, instead of a world: the accessibility relation has a free event variable, which needs to be bound locally, either by aspect (i.e., a quantifier over events), the speech event, or an embedding attitude verb. Further selectional restrictions on the event type each accessibility relation requires limits the possible combinations of event binders and accessibility relations. The resulting binding possibilities reduce the systematic constraints on the range of a modal's interpretations to independently-motivated syntactic assumptions on locality and movement, and explain why the various flavors of the same modal auxiliaries are interpreted at different heights.
by Valentine Hacquard.
Ph.D.
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Yalcin, Seth. "Modality and inquiry." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/45893.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-125).
The possibilities we consider or eliminate in inquiry are epistemic possibilities. This dissertation is mainly about what it is to say or believe that something is possible in this sense. Chapter 1 ('Epistemic Contradictions') describes a new puzzle about epistemic modals and uses it to explore their logic and semantics. Chapter 2 ('Nonfactualism about Epistemic Modality') situates the work of chapter 1 into a larger picture of content and communication, developing a broadly expressivist account of the language of epistemic modality. Chapter 3 ('Content and Modal Resolution') argues that states of belief should be understood as relativized to an inquiry, understood formally as a certain way of dividing up logical space.
Seth Yalcin.
Ph.D.
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Brodowski, Björn. "Concepts and modality." Thesis, University of Aberdeen, 2012. http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=195807.
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There’s a venerable tradition in philosophy to look to our concepts when it comes to appreciating facts about absolute real modality, i.e. how things can and must be in an absolute sense. Given the absence of a modal sensorium, the traditional model stated that modal facts have something to do with conceptual relations. Squares must be four-‐sided, for example, because the concept having four sides is part of the concept square. If this example could be generalised, it would not only provide a model for the epistemology of modality, it would also explain why much of our modal knowledge is a priori. The fact that we plausibly don’t need any empirical information in order to understand our concepts would explain why their analysis, and the subsequent appreciation of the corresponding modal facts, can be had from the armchair. In the wake of an externalist and scientistic trend in philosophy in the latter half of the 20th century, this model has come under severe attack. Orthodoxy has it now that concepts were the wrong place to look. Not only are there substantial modal facts whose recognition requires empirical investigation, even the application conditions, i.e. meanings, of many concepts are essentially a posteriori. This thesis rehearses the main arguments for rejecting the tradition, defends its central tenets and urges that, while the externalist arguments provide important insights, they do nothing to overturn the traditional model, but rather point to where it needs qualification. It spells out how we must understand its key notions—meaning, apriority, modality—in order to retain what is plausible about the traditional model. It is argued that an appeal to concepts in modal epistemology is inevitable, and that this is a tradition to foster.
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Biggs, Stephen Thomas. "Modality and Mind." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/194531.
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This dissertation consists of two parts. Part I proposes a new approach to modality, abductive modal realism. Part II proposes a new version of physicalism, abductive physicalism. The parts relate in that abductive physicalism presupposes abductive modal realism.Abductive modal realism holds that inference to the best explanation (i.e. abduction) grounds some and any justified belief about mind-independent necessity and possibility. This approach avoids the disadvantages of extant approaches to modality. Specifically, unlike extant approaches, abductive modal realism accepts real, mind-independent necessities and possibilities without employing a modal epistemology that fits these poorly. Abductive physicalism holds that we should adopt abductive modal realism, that abduction favors physicalism, and thus, that we should adopt physicalism. Although standard a posteriori physicalism accepts the latter claims, it sees appeals to abduction as exceptions to an otherwise non-abductive modal epistemology. Abductive physicalism, contrariwise, sees abduction as the arbitrator of modal disputes quite generally. This difference allows abductive physicalism to avoid problems that plague standard a posteriori physicalism.
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Horvat, Ana Werkmann. "Layers of modality." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2017. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:b7633467-cc32-44d8-9692-a147b1493e63.
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Much of the literature on modality focuses, at least implicitly, on the occurrence of single modal auxiliaries. However, cross-linguistically, modal auxiliaries can co-occur with one another, but under interesting restrictions. This thesis examines layered modal constructions and the semantic restrictions under which they combine. For instance, in languages such as Croatian, where double modal constructions are part of the standard, data shows that while some combinations are acceptable, others are not. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to identify these semantic restrictions and to explain the rationale that motivates them. To answer these questions, a systematic study of four possible combinations (epis- temics embedding epistemics, epistemics embedding non-epistemics, non-epistemics embedding non-epistemics, and non-epistemics embedding epistemics) was carried out. The data shows that the first three groups are, in general, acceptable to native speakers, while the last one is not. Further to that, the data shows that within the non-epistemic + non-epistemic group there seem to be further restrictions. The result was a hierarchical analysis that is based on modal force and flavour. With respect to force, it is shown in Chapter 4 that necessity embeds possibility, crucially, only when two of the same flavour combine. In terms of flavour, the data shows that epistemics can embed non-epistemics, while in the non-epistemic group priority embeds the circumstantial group in which pure possibility embeds ability and disposition, respectively. This analysis carries some important implications for the traditional categorisation of modal flavours which is discussed in Chapter 4. Finally, in Chapter 5 I also discuss the possible rationale behind the hierarchy and the compositional nature of DMCs. It is concluded that the hierarchy should not be taken as a merely descriptive generalisation, but rather as an analysis that is predictable on the basis of the conceptual and logical reality of human language.
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Pfau, Roland, and Markus Steinbach. "Modality-independent and modality-specific aspects of grammaticalization in sign languages." Universität Potsdam, 2006. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2006/1088/.
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One type of internal diachronic change that has been extensively
studied for spoken languages is grammaticalization whereby lexical
elements develop into free or bound grammatical elements. Based on
a wealth of spoken languages, a large amount of prototypical
grammaticalization pathways has been identified. Moreover, it has
been shown that desemanticization, decategorialization, and phonetic
erosion are typical characteristics of grammaticalization processes.
Not surprisingly, grammaticalization is also responsible for diachronic
change in sign languages. Drawing data from a fair number of sign
languages, we show that grammaticalization in visual-gestural
languages – as far as the development from lexical to grammatical
element is concerned – follows the same developmental pathways as
in spoken languages. That is, the proposed pathways are modalityindependent.
Besides these intriguing parallels, however, sign
languages have the possibility of developing grammatical markers
from manual and non-manual co-speech gestures. We will discuss
various instances of grammaticalized gestures and we will also briefly
address the issue of the modality-specificity of this phenomenon.
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Bui, Huy Q. "Quantification, opacity and modality." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2001. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp04/MQ65025.pdf.
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Melia, Joseph. "The nature of modality." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1992. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.239492.
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Wachter, Daniel von. "Modality, causality, and God." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.289017.
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Winstanley, Paul. "Conceivability, apriority and modality." Thesis, Durham University, 2011. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/860/.
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I aim to understand whether apriority entails necessity, aposteriority entails contingency and conceivability entails possibility; that is, the relationship between, and the nature of, rationality and modality. The thesis is split into two parts: one on apriority and modality (chs. 2-4), and another on conceivability, apriority/aposteriority and modality (chs. 5 to 7). In Chapter 1, I discuss ‘two-dimensional modal semantics’, arguing that it is ill-equipped to provide a substantive account of rationality and modality, before setting out the basis of such an understanding. I begin the first part of the thesis (in Chapter 2) by outlining a preliminary account of the a priori: it is, strictly, not defeasible by empirical evidence; it involves a kind of necessity (‘rational necessity’); and it is (at least in its prima facie variant) fallible. In Chapter 3 I discuss the contingent a priori, arguing that genuine apriority entails necessity, before placing apriority qua ‘rational necessity’ (and ‘rational modality’ more widely) with respect to other kinds of modality (in Chapter 4). I conclude Part I of the thesis, by arguing that the a priori is not coextensive with, but is grounded in, metaphysical necessity. Part II of the thesis begins with a discussion of the necessary a posteriori (Chapter 5), where I argue that there are no genuine cases, thus aposteriority entails contingency and conceivability entails possibility. I then deal with Frege’s and Kripke’s puzzles (Chapter 6), which I claim (as with the necessary a posteriori) pose no genuine problem for conceivability-possibility reasoning. Finally (in Chapter 7), I offer a deeper account of rational modality together with a tentative account of metaphysical modality (and essence). I then conclude that genuine apriority qua rational necessity entails metaphysical necessity; similarly, strictly, aposteriority (rational contingency) entails metaphysical contingency and, (in)conceivability (rational (im)possibility) entails metaphysical (im)possibility.
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McLeod, Stephen K. "Modality and anti-metaphysics." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.364089.
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Davies, N. J. "Truth, modality and action." Thesis, University of Essex, 1993. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.317697.
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Decker, Jason (Jason Andrew). "Modality, rationalism, and conditionals." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39344.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, February 2007.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-108).
This thesis consists of three interconnected papers on apriority, modality, and conditionals. In "Playground Conditionals," I look at three philosophical debates, each of which turns on the epistemic status of a certain kind of conditional-what I call a playground conditional. I argue that a close consideration of playground conditionals gives us a better appreciation of what we can do with conditionals and, ultimately, some guidance concerning what to say about the three philosophical debates. In "Modal Rationalism, Two Dimensionalism, and our Counteractual Sisters", I consider the prospects for modal rationalism in the wake of Kripke's Naming and Necessity. Recently there has been a modal rationalist revival, thanks in part to the development of the "two-dimensional" semantic framework. This framework associates two intensions (a primary intension and a secondary intension) with every sentence. The difficulty comes in finding a definition of primary and secondary intension that would lend the desired support to modal rationalism. After exploring and rejecting some of the proposed definitions in the literature, I sketch an account that can, I think, offer some support to a suitably framed modal rationalism.
(cont.) Finally, in "A Guide to Modal Guidance," I set about to get clearer on how, exactly, we come to know modal truths. I start by considering two arguments that are designed to show that our access to modal knowledge cannot come from conceivability arguments. I show that, these arguments are mistaken. In the process, I attempt to outline a broader and more realistic modal epistemology than one that focuses exclusively on conceivability. I then consider and reject a version of modal rationalism which says that ideal conceivability gives us a priori access to modality. Against this, I argue that our modal knowledge is predominantly a posteriori, and that our knowledge of ideal conceivability is always a posteriori. In the end, however, I attempt to salvage something that preserves the spirit, if not the letter, of modal rationalism.
by Jason Decker.
Ph.D.
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Cogliati, Carlo. "God's existence and modality." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.612356.
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Eriksson, Jens. "Chord and modality analysis." Thesis, KTH, Tal-kommunikation, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-189437.
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The way humans listen to music and perceive its structure isautomatic. In an attempt by Friberg et al. (2011) to model thishuman perception mechanism, a set of nine perceptual features wasselected to describe the overall properties of music. By letting atest group rate the perceptual features in a data set of musicalpieces, they discovered that the factor with most importance fordescribing the emotions happy and sad was the perceptual featuremodality. Modality in music denotes whether the key of a musicalpiece is in major or minor.This thesis aims to predict the modality in a continuous scale (0-10) from chord analysis with multiple linear regression and a NeuralNetwork (NN) in a computational model using a custom set offeatures. The model was able to predict the modality with anexplained variability of 64 % using a NN. The results clearlyindicated that the approach of using chords as features to predictmodality, is appropriate for music data sets that consisted of tonalmusic.Computational Modelling of Perceptual Music Features
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Chua, David Teck Chun. "Dispositionalism, truthmaking and modality." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/16570.
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This thesis is concerned with issues in the metaphysics of ‘new actualism.’ New actualists hold that modal truths (truths about what is possible and impossible, what is contingent and necessary) are made true, not by possible worlds (whether of the concrete or abstract variety), but, rather, by actual objects and their properties. Prominent among the new actualists are dispositionalists who hold that modal truths are made true by the irreducibly dispositional properties of (actual) objects. My primary goal in this thesis is to defend a broadly dispositionalist account of truthmakers for modal truths. Toward this end I do two things. First, I clarify and defend the dispositionalist’s underlying ontology of truthmakers by responding to a well known criticism by Ted Sider, according to which dispositions are like ‘past-pointing’ Lucretian properties, and are dubious. In responding to the objection, I identify important respects in which dispositionalism is disanalogous to Lucretianism, and that dispositional properties are not ‘dubious’ truthmakers, at least not in the way Lucretian properties are. So the dubiousness objection can be put to rest. Second, I present a new truthmaking problem for the dispositionalist. I argue that the existing dispositionalist accounts of modality fail to offer satisfactory grounds, or truthmakers, for de re necessary truths. I then consider the options for the dispositionalist, arguing that the best solution to the challenge is to adopt real essentialism in the vein of Kit Fine. So dispositionalists should be real essentialists: by doing so, the truthmaking problem from de re necessary truths can also be put to rest.
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Panayides, Christos Yiangou. "Aristotle on modality and determinism." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2000. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp02/NQ59651.pdf.
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Strohminger, Margot. "Knowledge of modality by imagining." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/6351.
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Assertions about metaphysical modality (hereafter modality) play central roles in philosophical theorizing. For example, when philosophers propose hypothetical counterexamples, they often are making a claim to the effect that some state of affairs is possible. Getting the epistemology of modality right is thus important. Debates have been preoccupied with assessing whether imaginability—or conceivability, insofar as it's different—is a guide to possibility, or whether it is rather intuitions of possibility—and modal intuitions more generally—that are evidence for possibility (modal) claims. The dissertation argues that the imagination plays a subtler role than the first view recognizes, and a more central one than the second view does. In particular, it defends an epistemology of metaphysical modality on which someone can acquire modal knowledge in virtue of having performed certain complex imaginative exercises.
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Brown, Scott Andrew. "Essays on Modality and Instantiation." The Ohio State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1483479401220297.
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Munshi, Salma. "An examination of Aristotelian modality." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1986. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001978.
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From introduction: A popular misconception regarding Aristotle's views on modality is that Aristotle adhered to the doctrine of no unrealized possibilities. According to this doctrine, all possibilities are realized in time; in other words, if it is possible that something could happen, then at some time it is the case that that happens. For example, if it is possible for Socrates to escape from prison, then there will be a time at which Socrates will actually escape from prison. On this view, the possible and the actual co-incide; whereas there is abundant evidence that Aristotle was careful to maintain a distinction between the possible and the actual.
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Fait, Stefano. "IS BAYESIAN UPDATING MODALITY-DEPENDENT?" Doctoral thesis, Università degli studi di Trento, 2022. http://hdl.handle.net/11572/341318.
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In a Bayesian perspective, the probabilistic dependencies between hypotheses under consideration and diagnostic pieces of evidence are the only relevant information for probabilistic updating. We investigated whether human probability judgments conform to this assumption, by manipulating the sensory systems involved in the acquisition and processing of information concerning evidence and hypotheses. Hence, we ran five (computer-based) experiments using a variant of the classic book bag and poker chip task (e.g., Phillips & Edwards, 1966). Participants were first presented with pairs of urns A and B filled with a different proportion of balls that turned either red or green in the visual condition, balls that emitted either a low- or high-pitched sound in the auditory condition, and balls that both turned a color and emitted a sound in various cross-modal (i.e., audio-visual) conditions. One urn was then selected at random, some balls were randomly drawn from it, and their color and/or sound were disclosed. Participants’ task was to estimate the probability that each of the two urns has been selected, given the information provided. In Experiments 1 and 2, we compared the probability judgments referring to probabilistically identical visual and auditory scenarios that only differed with regards to the sensory system involved, without finding any difference between the answers provided in the two conditions. In Experiment 3, 4, and 5, the addition of cross-modal scenarios allowed us to investigate the effects on probabilistic updating of synergic (i.e., both visual and auditory evidence individually supported the hypothesis they jointly supported) or contrasting (i.e., either visual and/or auditory evidence individually supported the hypothesis opposite the one they jointly supported) audio-visual evidence. Our results provide evidence in favor of a synergy-contrasting effect, as probability judgments were more accurate in synergic conditions than in contrasting conditions. This suggests that, when perceptual information is acquired through a singular sensory system, probability judgments conform to the Bayesian assumption that the sensory system involved does not play a role in the updating process, whereas the simultaneous presentation of cross-modal information can influence participants’ performance.
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Ruyant, Quentin. "L'empirisme modal." Thesis, Rennes 1, 2017. http://www.theses.fr/2017REN1S117/document.
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L'objet de cette thèse est de proposer une position originale dans le débat sur le réalisme scientifique, l'empirisme modal, et d'en démontrer la fructuosité quand il s'agit de tirer des enseignements du contenu cognitif des théories scientifiques. L'empirisme modal est une position empiriste, suivant laquelle le but de la science n'est pas de produire des théories vraies, mais des théories empiriquement adéquate. Cependant, il propose d'adopter un cadre plus large que les versions traditionnelles d'empirisme pour penser l'expérience, en incorporant un engagement envers les modalités naturelles, ou l'idée qu'il y a du possible dans la nature, et des contraintes sur les possibles. Nos théories sont empiriquement adéquates si elles délimitent correctement l'étendue des expériences possibles. Cette position s'appuie sur une conception située et pragmatique des modalités naturelles et de la confrontation empirique. Nous prétendons qu'elle est à même de rendre justice au succès empirique des sciences, sans pour autant faire face au problème du changement théorique qui mine le réalisme scientifique. Nous expliquons comment les contraintes de nécessité sur les phénomènes peuvent être connues à l'issue d'une induction, et en quoi cette façon de voir s'accorde avec la pratique scientifique. Enfin, nous affirmons qu'un engagement envers les modalités naturelles offre une richesse interprétative à même de renouveler, dans un cadre pragmatiste, plus ouvert que le réalisme, certaines questions métaphysiques tout en les ramenant à l'expérienceThe aim of this thesis dissertation is to propose a novel position in the debate on scientific realism, modal empiricism, and to show its fruitfulness when it comes to interpreting the cognitive content of scientific theories. Modal empiricism is an empiricist position, according to which the aim of science is to produce empirically adequate theories rather than true theories. However, it suggests adopting a broader comprehension of experience than traditional versions of empiricism, through a commitment to natural modalities. Following modal empiricism, there are possibilities in nature, and constraints on what is possible, and a theory is empirically adequate if it correctly delimits the range of possible experiences. The position rests on a situated and pragmatic conception of natural modalities and of empirical confrontation. We claim that it can do justice to the empirical success of science, while not falling prey to the problem of theory change that undermines scientific realism. We explain how constraints of necessity on phenomena can be known by induction, and how this modal epistemology fits with scientific practice. Finally, we claim that a commitment to natural modalities allows for a rich interpretation of the cognitive content of theories. Modal empiricism could renew some metaphysical debates within a pragmatist framework, by tying them to experience and not being constrained by realist prejudices
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Palacios, Donna Marie. "The effects of teacher learning modality and student learning modality upon achievement for first graders." Virtual Press, 1985. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/439145.
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The three purposes of this study were:1. To identify the predominant perceptual modalities from among visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and mixed modalities for first graders;2. To ascertain differences, if any, in cognitive ability levels among the four perceptual modality groups;3. With cognitive ability controlled, to determine the achievement levels in reading, language, and mathematics among the visual, auditory, and mixed modality groups and among students assigned to the teacher modality groups; and to determine the effects on student achievement when student and teacher modalities matched.Perceptual modality, cognitive ability, and achievement data were collected for 165 students in 12 classrooms. Statistical analyses including Chi-square, analysis of variance, and multivariate analysis of covariance were utilized to test five hypotheses. The .05 Alpha level was established to test the statistical significance of the hypotheses.Findings1. Significant differences were found in the percentages of first graders preferring different modalities. The largest percentage of students preferred the visual modalitywhile the smallest percentage preferred the kinesthestic modality.2. Differences in cognitive ability levels among the four perceptual modality groups were not significant.3. With cognitive ability controlled, achievement was not enhanced when student and teacher modality preferences matched. Also, no significant differences in achievement among the student modality groups or among the students assigned to the different teacher modality groups were found.Conclusions1. Differences in preferred perceptual modalities among first graders were identified. The largest group of students preferred the visual modality.2. Significant differences in cognitive ability levels among modality groups did not exist.3. Matching student and teacher modality groups did not enhance achievement.
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McCarthy, Alexandra Leigh. "A rebellious distemper : a Foucaultian history of breast cancer to 1900." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2005. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/16030/1/Alexandra_McCarthy_Thesis.pdf.
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This dissertation explores some of the conditions of possibility underpinning contemporary breast cancer discourse, which is imbued with harsh moral, social and spiritual nuance. I have therefore explored a set of questions concerned with the past state of things in breast cancer care that laid the foundation for present approaches. I wanted to know how it became possible to speak what we now regard as the only truth about breast cancer. I wanted to understand how this truth was determined; who determined it, and who or what gave them the right to assert that their truth was the only truth. I wanted to acquire insight into the ways that thinking about and managing breast cancer based on this truth came to dominate the post-modern consciousness (rather than other, perhaps equally valid ways). And if it was possible, I wanted to open up a space for thinking differently about breast cancer. Finally, I wanted to test the fit of the ideas of the philosopher-historian, Michel Foucault, to these questions.
Foucault's notions of discontinuity, discipline, the gaze, normalising judgements and to a lesser extent, some aspects of power/knowledge and the ethics of the self are here tested on the surgical archive of breast cancer, which housed the discourse that best represented Western societal beliefs about the disease, and which had been invested by society with the greatest authority in its conception and management. The analytic framework - modes of consciousness - suggested by Foucault provided a coherent structure with which to explore the archive. I found that there are numerous elements in the archive instrumental in cementing the conditions of possibility for breast cancer discourse in our own time. This dissertation demonstrates that, as is the case in the present day, these were based on unstable truths about breast cancer that were a result of a complex of sociocultural and political norms rather than an objective truth.
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McCarthy, Alexandra Leigh. "A Rebellious Distemper: A Foucaultian History of Breast Cancer to 1900." Queensland University of Technology, 2005. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/16030/.
Full textAbstract:
This dissertation explores some of the conditions of possibility underpinning contemporary breast cancer discourse, which is imbued with harsh moral, social and spiritual nuance. I have therefore explored a set of questions concerned with the past state of things in breast cancer care that laid the foundation for present approaches. I wanted to know how it became possible to speak what we now regard as the only truth about breast cancer. I wanted to understand how this truth was determined; who determined it, and who or what gave them the right to assert that their truth was the only truth. I wanted to acquire insight into the ways that thinking about and managing breast cancer based on this truth came to dominate the post-modern consciousness (rather than other, perhaps equally valid ways). And if it was possible, I wanted to open up a space for thinking differently about breast cancer. Finally, I wanted to test the fit of the ideas of the philosopher-historian, Michel Foucault, to these questions. Foucault's notions of discontinuity, discipline, the gaze, normalising judgements and to a lesser extent, some aspects of power/knowledge and the ethics of the self are here tested on the surgical archive of breast cancer, which housed the discourse that best represented Western societal beliefs about the disease, and which had been invested by society with the greatest authority in its conception and management. The analytic framework - modes of consciousness - suggested by Foucault provided a coherent structure with which to explore the archive. I found that there are numerous elements in the archive instrumental in cementing the conditions of possibility for breast cancer discourse in our own time. This dissertation demonstrates that, as is the case in the present day, these were based on unstable truths about breast cancer that were a result of a complex of sociocultural and political norms rather than an objective truth.
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Nordén, Anton Harry. "Epistemic modality in Ghanaian Pidgin English." Thesis, Stockholms universitet, Avdelningen för allmän språkvetenskap, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-131516.
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This study investigates the expression of epistemic modality in a corpus of Ghanaian Pidgin English (GhaPE). The epistemic expressions are manually identified and thereafter distinguished from each other in terms of grammatical status and their indication of different epistemic and evidential notions. 7 different elements are found, ranging from 1 pre-verbal marker, 1 adverb, 2 particles and 3 complement-taking predicates. The results indicate, in line with existing research, that to differentiate between usage properties of individual modal expressions it may be necessary to subdivide them in terms of not only epistemic but also evidential meanings. Moreover, a functional parallel between the GhaPE particle abi, the Swedish modal particle väl and the Spanish adverbs a lo mejor and igual is demonstrated, with respect to their simultaneous function of expressing epistemic probability and asking the hearer for confirmation. Finally, the results suggest, contrary to previous accounts, that the pre-verbal marker fit may indicate epistemic possibility without the addition of a preceding irrealis marker go. It is proposed that future researchers should make use of bigger corpora in order to arrive at a more ample conception of both individual modal categories and their interrelations.
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Smeenk, Robert Matthijs. "Combined modality treatment of pseudomyxoma peritonei." [S.l. : Amsterdam : s.n.] ; Universiteit van Amsterdam [Host], 2007. http://dare.uva.nl/document/43596.
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Mikučionis, Ugnius. "Modality and the Norwegian modal verbs." Doctoral thesis, Lithuanian Academic Libraries Network (LABT), 2012. http://vddb.laba.lt/obj/LT-eLABa-0001:E.02~2012~D_20121130_091644-61463.
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This dissertation deals with semantics of modality in general and semantics of the Norwegian modal verbs in particular. My lead-off assumption is that modality deals with people’s attitude towards the trustworthiness of propositions (epistemic attitude) and the presence or absence of obstacles for a state of affairs to occur (non-epistemic attitude). I distinguish between neutral and non-neutral attitude on the one hand and between simple and complex attitude on the other. Neutral attitude means that, in the speaker’s view (or someone else’s view, if the speaker is reporting others’ attitude), there are no obstacles to accept a proposition as correct or a state of affairs as likely to occur. However, the speaker may equally accept that the same proposition may turn out to be incorrect, or the same state of affairs may turn out not to be worth to occur. In either case, no conflict will arise between the speaker’s beliefs (expectations) and the reality.
Non-neutral attitude means that the speaker only is willing to accept a proposition as correct, or a state of affairs as likely to occur. If the proposition turns out to be incorrect, or the state of affairs turns out not to be likely to occur, a conflict arises between the speaker’s beliefs (expectations) and reality.
At the same time, the speaker may signal that other participants may have different attitudes than her own, which does not mean that the speaker is unsure about her own attitude. I use the terms simple and... [to full text]Šioje disertacijoje tyrinėjama modalumo semantika, ypatingą dėmesį skiriant norvegų kalbos modaliniams veiksmažodžiams. Modalumas suvokiamas kaip kategorija, susijusi su žmonių požiūriu į propozicijų tikėtinumą (episteminis požiūris) ir į kliūčių įvykiams įvykti ar situacijoms susiklostyti buvimą ar nebuvimą (neepisteminis požiūris). Išskiriami, viena vertus, neutralus ir neneutralus požiūris, ir, kita vertus, paprastas ir kompleksinis požiūris. Terminas paprastas požiūris vartojamas kalbant apie atvejus, kai kalbėtojas posakyje tik išreiškia vieną požiūrį, nesudarymas prielaidų manyti, kad egzistuoja ir kitokių požiūrių galimybė. Terminas kompleksinis požiūris vartojamas kalbant apie atvejus, kai kalbėtojas, išreikšdamas vieną požiūrį, sykiu leidžia manyti, kad galima turėti ir kitokį, alternatyvų požiūrį. Neutralus požiūris visada būna paprastas, o neneutralus gali būti arba paprastas, arba kompleksinis. Toliau disertacijoje šis modelis pritaikomas norvegų kalbos modalinius veiksmažodžių KUNNE, MÅTTE, SKULLE, VILLE ir BURDE semantiniam aprašui. Esamojo laiko forma kan dažniausiai vartojama neutraliam požiūriui išreikšti, o esamojo laiko formos må, skal ir vil dažniausiai vartojamos paprastam neneutraliam požiūriui išreikšti. Ir esamojo laiko forma bør, ir būtojo laiko (preterito) forma burde dažniausiai vartojamos kompleksiniam neneutraliam požiūriui reikšti. Būtojo laiko formos skulle ir ville gali būti pavartojamos ne temporaline reikšme, transformuojant paprastą... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]
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Badram, Dany. "Ideology through modality in discourse analysis." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.275961.
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Papafragou, Anna. "Modality and the semantics-pragmatics interface." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 1998. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1317914/.
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This thesis explores certain aspects of the structure of lexical semantics and its interaction with pragmatic processes of utterance comprehension, using as a case-study a sample of the English modal verbs. Contrary to previous polysemy-based accounts, I propose and defend a unitary semantic account of the English modals, and I give a relevance-theoretic explanation of the construction of their admissible (mainly, root and epistemic) contextual interpretations. Departing from previous accounts of modality, I propose a link between epistemic modality and metarepresentation, and treat the emergence of epistemic modal markers as a result of the development of the human theory of mind. In support of my central contention that the English modals are semantically univocal, I reanalyse a range of arguments employed by previous polysemy-based approaches. These arguments involve the distributional properties of the modals, their relationship to truth-conditional content, the status of so-called speech-act modality, and the historical development of epistemic meanings: it turns out that none of these domains can offer reasons to abandon the univocal semantic analysis of the English modals. Furthermore, I argue that the priority of root over epistemic meanings in language acquisition is predicted by the link between epistemic modality and metarepresentation. Finally, data from a cognitive disorder (autism) are considered in the light of the metarepresentation hypothesis about epistemic modality. The discussion of modality has a number of implications for the concept of polysemy. I suggest that, despite its widespread use in current lexical semantics, polysemy is not a natural class, and use the example of the Cognitive Linguistics to illustrate that polysemy presupposes some questionable assumptions about the structure of lexical concepts. I propose a division of labour between ambiguity, semantic underdeterminacy, and a narrowed version of polysemy, and present its ramifications for the psychology of word meaning. In the final chapter, I extend the proposed framework for modality to the analysis of generic sentences, thereby capturing certain similarities between genericity and modality.
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Vincent, Benet Donald. "Modality and the V wh pattern." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2015. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/6311/.
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Research into modality has tended to focus on modal auxiliary verbs (modals) at the expense of other forms that may express modal meaning. This thesis takes a phraseological, exploratory approach to the investigation of modal meaning by focusing on modal expressions with verbs with wh-clause complementation (the V wh pattern). The approach first tests the hypothesis that the pattern is associated with markers of modal meaning and then goes on to conduct a concordance analysis of samples of frequently-occurring V wh verbs taken from the British National Corpus. This analysis first categorizes these verbs into semantic sets and then explores which realizations of different types of modal meaning – obligation, volition, potential, and uncertainty – are most often found with verbs in particular sets. The presentation of the results of this analysis also involves a discussion of how exponents of modal meaning other than modals extend the range of expression available to users of English, indicating what an exclusive focus on modals will tend to overlook.
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Kotowick, Kyle (Kyle Jordan). "Adaptive modality selection for navigation systems." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/120379.
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Thesis: Ph. D. in Human Systems Integration, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2018.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 203-221).
People working in extreme environments, where their mental and physical capabilities are taxed to the limit, need every possible advantage in order to safely and effectively perform their tasks. When these people -- such as soldiers in combat or first responders in disaster areas -- need to navigate through various areas in addition to performing other concurrent tasks, the combination can easily result in sensory or attentional overload and lead to major reductions in performance. Since the tasks that these people must perform often require intense visual attention, such as scanning an area for threats or targets, conventional visual navigation systems (map-based GPS displays) add to that visual workload and put users in danger of divided attention and failure to perform critical functions. This has lead to substantial research in the field of tactile navigation systems, which allow the user to navigate without needing to look at any display or use his or her hands to operate the system. While they have been shown to be extremely beneficial in many applications, tactile navigation systems are incapable of providing the detailed information that visual systems can and they make it more difficult to use the tactile sensory modality for other notifications or alerts due to tactile interference. This dissertation proposes a novel navigation system technology: one that adaptively and dynamically selects a navigation system's modality based on a variety of factors. Each modality has varying levels of compatibility with the different types of concurrent tasks, which forms the basis for the adaptive modality selection (AMS) algorithm. Additionally, there are time-varying factors called switching cost, sensory adaptation, and habituation that negatively affect navigation performance over long-duration navigation tasks; by switching between navigation system modalities when these effects have reached a point of notable performance loss, their effects can be mitigated. By considering both the task-specific benefits of each modality as well as the time-varying effects, an AMS navigation system can dynamically react to changes in the user's mission or environmental parameters to provide consistent, reliable navigation support. The research presented in this dissertation is divided into three phases, each involving a distinct human-participants experiment. The first phase investigated methods for selecting which modality to use for providing information to users when they are already completing other high-workload tasks. Results from the 45-participant experiment indicated that the primary consideration should be to avoid presenting multiple sources of information through the tactile modality simultaneously, suggesting that an AMS navigation system should ensure that the tactile modality is never used for navigation while it is also necessary for concurrent tasks. The second phase investigated the effects of sensory adaptation and habituation on navigation tasks, and evaluated whether it was possible to alleviate those effects by regularly changing between navigation system modalities. Results from the 32-participant experiment indicated that periodically changing between navigation system modalities induces a transient switching cost after each change, but that it also prevents long-term adaptation/habituation. The analysis indicated that the optimal time to change modalities was approximately once every five minutes. The third and final phase investigated the efficacy of an AMS navigation system algorithm, the design of which was informed by the results from the first two phases of research in combination with results from prior work. Participants were required to navigate while also performing various concurrent tasks while using a conventional single-modality navigation system, a multimodal system, or the novel adaptive system. Results from the 32-participant experiment indicated that when a user must both navigate and perform a concurrent non-navigation task simultaneously, use of an AMS navigation system can result in improved performance on both the navigation and the concurrent task.
by Kyle Kotowick.
Ph. D. in Human Systems Integration
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Harvey, Carlo. "Modality based perception for selective rendering." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2011. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/51765/.
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A major challenge in generating high-fidelity virtual environments for use in Virtual Reality (VR) is to be able to provide interactive rates of realism. The high-fidelity simulation of light and sound wave propagation is still unachievable in real-time. Physically accurate simulation is very computationally demanding. Only recently has visual perception been used in high-fidelity rendering to improve performance by a series of novel exploitations; to render parts of the scene that are not currently being attended by the viewer at a much lower quality with-out the difference being perceived. This thesis investigates the effect spatialised directional sounds, both discrete and converged and smells have on the visual attention of the user towards rendered scene images. These perceptual artefacts are utilised in selective rendering pipelines via the use of multi-modal maps. This work verifies the worth of investigating subliminal saccade shifts (fast movements of the eyes) from directional audio impulses via a pilot study to eye track participant's free viewing a scene with and without an audio impulse and with and without a congruency for that impulse. This experiment showed that even without an acoustic identifier in the scene, directional sound provides an impulse to guide subliminal saccade shifts. A novel technique for generating interactive discrete acoustic samples from arbitrary geometry is also presented. This work is extrapolated by investigating whether temporal auditory sound wave saliencies can be used as a feature vector in the image rendering process. The method works by producing image maps of the sound wave flux and attenuating this map via these auditory saliency feature vectors. Whilst selectively rendering, the method encodes spatial auditory distracters into the standard visual saliency map. Furthermore, this work investigates the effect various smells have on the visual attention of a user when free viewing a set of images whilst being eye tracked. This thesis explores these saccade shifts to a congruent smell object. By analysing the gaze points, the time spent attending a particular area of a scene is considered. The work presents a technique derived from measured data to modulate traditional saliency maps of image features to account for the observed results for smell congruences and shows that smell provides an impulse on visual attention. Finally, the observed data is used in applying modulated image saliency maps to address the additional effects cross-modal stimuli has on human perception when applied to a selective renderer. These multi-modal maps, derived from measured data for smells, and from sound spatialisation techniques attempt to exploit the extra stimuli presented in multi-modal VR environments and help to re-quantify the saliency map to account for observed cross-modal perceptual features of the human visual system. The multi-modal maps are tested through rigorous psychophysical experiments to examine their applicability to selective rendering algorithms, with a series of fixed cost rendering functions, and are found to perform better than image saliency maps that are naively applied to multi-modal virtual environments.
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Wymann, Adrian. "The expression of modality in Korean /." [S.l.] : [s.n.], 1996. http://www.ub.unibe.ch/content/bibliotheken_sammlungen/sondersammlungen/dissen_bestellformular/index_ger.html.
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Adams, Sarah Nicola. "Theism & the metaphysics of modality." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2015. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/11178/.
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Much cutting-edge research has been produced in the quest to find out which metaphysical account of modality is best. Comparatively little rigorous investigation has been devoted to questioning whether such accounts are compatible with classical theism. This thesis remedies some of this neglect and charts some of this previously under-explored territory existing at the intersection of metaphysics and philosophy of religion. Such an investigation is important since salient among the tenets of classical theism are ones that are characteristically modal. Not only is the classical monotheistic deity supposed to exist and possess the various divine-making properties necessarily; many of these properties themselves seem to include a modal component. An omniscient being is one who could not fail to know some proposition (once it’s true); and an omnipotent being is such that, for an appropriate set of tasks, it could perform them. Classical theism also comprises modal commitments about non-divine individuals: everything distinct from God is supposed to be necessarily dependent upon God; and human beings are supposed to have been granted the freedom to do otherwise. In short, the unique metaphysical properties of a classical monotheistic deity burden the theist with substantial metaphysical and ethical commitments any theory of modality must uphold; this thesis questions which one may do so best. However, the discussion must be limited to a small number of theories. Those examined here explain modality in terms of something ultimately non-modal; either by reducing modality to something else (e.g., a particular ontology of possible worlds), or by denying that modal discourse has the function of describing, in a truth-apt way, some part of mind-independent reality. So this project is a partial investigation into a more specific question: which of these theories which deny that modality is fundamentally real best fits with theism?
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Racy, Sumayya Katharine. "Towards a Unified Treatment of Modality." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/194394.
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Towards a Unified Treatment of Modality (abstract) Sumayya Racy, Ph.D. The primary claim of this thesis is that despite the numerous forms modality may take, both within and across languages, there are relatively few features, structures and operations which give rise to these numerous forms. For example, in English the modal notion of obligation may be expressed by a verb (He must go), but an adverb (He obligatorily goes), by an adjective (He is obliged), by a noun (He has an obligation), and even by a preposition (It's on him to go) or by no clear modal marker (He is to go). In other languages, we find still more ways in which modality may be expressed, such as through affixes (Garo), through evidentials (Tuyuca), through modal particles (Norwegian), and through mood (Latin). It is shown in this thesis that by adopting Cinque's (1999) hierarchy of functional projections, Distributed Morphology (Halle & Marantz 1993), the semantics of Kratzer (1991) and Hacquard (2006) and a limited feature set, we may account for many of these expressions of modality within a single unified framework. In particular, it is argued that modal roots are acategorial (accounting for the many parts of speech we find in modal expressions) and it is proposed that head movement and fusion may take place among modal functional heads (accounting for the fact that modality may be expressed through other categories like evidentiality). Along the way, several interesting facets of modality are pointed out, including the fact that modal nouns may only be used with unusual abilities, and the fact that in English intonation and ASL repeated movement we may find phonological correlates of epistimicity.
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Kastis, Georgios. "Multi-modality imaging of small animals." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/289830.
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Over the last few years there has been a great demand for noninvasive, dedicated, small-animal imaging systems for biomedical research applications. In this dissertation we will discuss the development and performance of two gamma-ray systems and a dual modality CT/SPECT system. Initially we introduce FASTSPECT, a stationary, scintillator-based, single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) system that was originally built as a brain imager. We discuss its transformation into a small-animal imaging system and validate its performance by presenting high-resolution images of phantoms and animals. Furthermore, we discuss the development of an in vivo imaging protocol for rat myocardial models using FASTSPECT. The infarct size obtained from the images is quantified and compared with the myocardial infarct size measured from histology. Semiconductor detectors can exhibit good spatial and energy resolution, and therefore offer a promising alternative to scintillation technology. We discuss the performance of a semiconductor detector system, previously developed in our group, for planar and tomographic imaging of small animals. The same gamma-ray detector is used in a dual modality system for imaging mice. The system combines an anatomical imaging modality, x-ray CT, with a functional modality, SPECT. We present the development of the CT/SPECT system and illustrate its performance by presenting high-resolution images of phantoms and mice. Finally, we introduce a procedure for evaluating estimation methods without the use of a gold standard.
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Cavanaugh, Daniel J. "The cellular logic of pain modality discrimination." Diss., Search in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. UC Only, 2009. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3390112.
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Hill, Patricia Ann. "Studies of the impact of sign modality." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2000. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape3/PQDD_0008/NQ59597.pdf.
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Agha, S. J. "Some problems concerning reference, thought and modality." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1987. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.384009.
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Abish, Aynur. "Modality in Kazakh as spoken in China." Doctoral thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för lingvistik och filologi, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-221400.
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This is a comprehensive study on expressions of modality in one of the largest Turkic languages, Kazakh, as it is spoken in China. Kazakh is the official language of the Republic of Kazakhstan and is furthermore spoken by about one and a half million people in China in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and in Aksai Kazakh Autonomous County in Gansu Province.The method employed is empirical, i.e. data-oriented. The modal expressions in Kazakh are analyzed in a theoretical framework essentially based on the works of Lars Johanson. The framework defines semantic notions of modality from a functional and typological perspective. The modal volition, deontic evaluation, and epistemic evaluation express attitudes towards the propositional content and are conveyed in Kazakh by grammaticalized moods, particles and lexical devices. All these categories are treated in detail, and ample examples of their different usages are provided with interlinear annotation. The Kazakh expressions are compared with corresponding ones used in other Turkic languages. Contact influences of Uyghur and Chinese are also dealt with.The data used in this study include texts recorded by the author in 20102012, mostly in the northern regions of Xinjiang, as well as written texts published in Kazakhstan and China. The written texts represent different genres: fiction, non-fiction, poetry and texts published on the Internet. Moreover, examples have been elicited from native speakers of Kazakh and Uyghur. The Appendix contains nine texts recorded by the author in the Kazakh-speaking regions of Xinjiang, China. These texts illustrate the use of many of the items treated in the study.
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Moriarty, Siobhan. "Ontological categories, existence statements, and metaphysical modality." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2017. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/19043/.
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What is the content of the claim that tropes a and b are co-instantiated if there is no such thing as tropes? I begin this thesis by arguing that a sentence expressing such a claim would be deficient in content and would, therefore, not be truth-apt. I use this claim to set up a general presupposition problem for the truth-apt sentences of our language. I argue that all truth-apt sentences presuppose the existence of the kinds of things which are to serve as the semantic values of their terms. Understanding the content of such a presupposition requires understanding the content of a categorial existence claim. However, I argue, it is incredibly difficult to provide a construal of categorial existence claims which does not presuppose the existence of the very things that they would be used to assert the existence of. I argue that to provide a satisfactory construal, we need to appeal to the notion of an ontological category. I contend that the notion of an ontological category with which we can provide a satisfactory construal of existence claims is a broadly Lowean one. I show that, as it stands, Lowe’s construal is not adequate to the task but that it can be modified so that it is. Making use of such a modified construal, I defend a metalinguistic construal of categorial existence claims. In chapters five and six, I argue that if we fully appreciate the notion of an ontological category which has been introduced, the notion of that which I claimed we have to make use in answering the question of ontology and referring to things in the world, we will recognise that such ontological categories ground, or partially ground, de re modal truths, and through them, the truths of metaphysical modality.