The Power of Generalized Clemens Semantics

TL;DR

This paper generalizes Clemens semantics to n-tuple semantics for languages with quantifiers, exploring philosophical, epistemic, and logical implications for many-valued logics and contradictions.

Contribution

It introduces a generalized n-tuple semantics for Clemens semantics, extending its application to quantified languages and philosophical interpretations.

Findings

Semantic framework for n-tuple Clemens semantics

Analysis of many-valued logics from a classical perspective

Applications to informative contradictions and mixed consequence relations

Abstract

In this paper, we elaborate on the ordered-pair semantics originally presented by Matthew Clemens for LP (Priest's Logic of Paradox). For this purpose, we build on a generalization of Clemens semantics to the case of n-tuple semantics, for every n. More concretely, i) we deal with the case of a language with quantifiers, and ii) we consider philosophical implications of the semantics. The latter includes, first, a reading of the semantics in epistemic terms, involving multiple agents. Furthermore, we discuss the proper understanding of many-valued logics, namely LP and K3 (Kleene strong 3-valued logic), from the perspective of classical logic, along the lines suggested by Susan Haack. We will also discuss some applications of the semantics to issues related to informative contradictions, i.e. contradictions involving quantification over different respects a vague predicate may have, as advanced by Paul \'Egr\'e, and also to the mixed consequence relations, promoted by Pablo Cobreros, Paul \'Egr\'e, David Ripley and Robert van Rooij.