Aulus Gellius and the semantic analysis of possibilities

<p><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p>The mental models theory claims that human thought is mainly semantic and consists of analyses of the possibilities that the sentences refer to. The theory has a great empirical support. However, it can be thought that, if it actually...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Miguel López-Astorga
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid 2018-11-01
Series:Bajo Palabra
Online Access:https://revistas.uam.es/bajopalabra/article/view/10271
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Summary:<p><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p>The mental models theory claims that human thought is mainly semantic and consists of analyses of the possibilities that the sentences refer to. The theory has a great empirical support. However, it can be thought that, if it actually shows how the human mind works, it should be possible to find ancient texts authored by philosophers or logicians whose arguments reveal identifications and comparison of semantic possibilities. In this paper, I try to argue that, indeed, texts of that kind are to be found in the ancient sources. In particular, I comment on a fragment written by Aulus Gellius in which an analysis of possibilities is clear.</p><p><strong>Keywords:</strong> ancient philosophy, mental models, possibilities, reasoning, semantics.</p>
ISSN:1576-3935
1887-505X