Plausibility and Early Theory in Linguistics and Cognitive Science
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F67985955%3A_____%2F24%3A00582411" target="_blank" >RIV/67985955:_____/24:00582411 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s42113-024-00196-7" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1007/s42113-024-00196-7</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s42113-024-00196-7" target="_blank" >10.1007/s42113-024-00196-7</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Plausibility and Early Theory in Linguistics and Cognitive Science
Original language description
Various notions of plausibility are used in cognitive science to argue for or against the “goodness of theories.” However, plausibility remains poorly understood and difficult to analyze. We review debates in the philosophy of science on uses of plausibility in the assessment of novel scientific theories as well as recent attempts to formalize, reform, or eliminate specific notions of plausibility. Although these discussions highlight important concerns behind plausibility claims, they fail to identify viable notions of plausibility that are sufficiently different from other criteria of “good theory,” such as prior probability or external coherence. We survey uses of plausibility in linguistics and cognitive science, confirming that plausibility is often a proxy for other criteria of good theory. We argue that the need remains for concepts of plausibility that can be employed to assess the quality of proposals at the early stages of theory development when other criteria are not yet applicable. We identify two such notions: one relating to formal constraints on theories and another capturing initial epistemic consensus, if not necessarily convergence on the truth, about the target system in a community of inquiry. We briefly assess the specificity and added value of these notions of plausibility relative to other criteria for good theory.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>SC</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the SCOPUS database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
10201 - Computer sciences, information science, bioinformathics (hardware development to be 2.2, social aspect to be 5.8)
Result continuities
Project
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Continuities
I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace
Others
Publication year
2024
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Computational Brain & Behavior
ISSN
2522-0861
e-ISSN
2522-087X
Volume of the periodical
7
Issue of the periodical within the volume
4
Country of publishing house
DE - GERMANY
Number of pages
13
Pages from-to
535-547
UT code for WoS article
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EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-85182451834