A Study of argumentation in Turkish within a Bayesian reasoning framework : arguments from ignorance

Download

index.pdf

Date

2012

Author

Karaaslan, Hatice

Metadata

Show full item record

Item Usage Stats

244
views

100
downloads

In this dissertation, a normative prescriptive paradigm, namely a Bayesian theory of content-dependent argument strength, was employed in order to investigate argumentation, specifically the classic fallacy of the “argument from ignorance” or “argumentum ad ignorantiam”. The study was carried out in Turkish with Turkish participants. In the Bayesian framework, argument strength is determined by the interactions between three major factors: prior belief, polarity, and evidence reliability. In addition, topic effects are considered. Three experiments were conducted. The first experiment replicated Hahn et al.’s (2005) study in Turkish to investigate whether similar results would be obtained in a different linguistic and cultural community. We found significant main effects of three of the manipulated factors in Oaksford and Hahn (2004) and Hahn et al. (2005): prior belief, reliability and topic. With respect to the Bayesian analysis, the overall fit between the data and the model was very good. The second experiment tested the hypothesis that argument acceptance would not vary across different intelligence levels. There was no significant main effect of prior belief, polarity, topic, and intelligence. We found a main effect of reliability only. However, further analyses on significant interactions showed that more intelligent subjects were less inclined to accept negative polarity items. Finally, the third experiment investigated the hypothesis that argument acceptance would vary depending on the presence of and the kind of evidentiality markers prevalent in Turkish, indicating the certainty with which events in the past have happened, marked with overt morpho-syntactic markers (–DI or –mIş). The experiment found a significant main effect of evidentiality as well as replicating the significant main effects of the two of the manipulated factors (prior belief and reliability) in Oaksford and Hahn (2004), Hahn et al. (2005) and in our first experiment. Furthermore, reliability and evidentiality interacted, indicating separate as well as combined effects of the two. With respect to the Bayesian analysis, the overall fit between the data and the model was lower than the one in the first experiment, but still acceptable. Overall, this study supported the normative Bayesian approach to studying argumentation in an interdisciplinary perspective, combining computation, psychology, linguistics, and philosophy.

Subject Keywords

Linguistics., Psychology., Computational linguistics., Debates and debating., Bayesian statistical decision theory.

URI

http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12614858/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/22065

Collections

Graduate School of Informatics, Thesis

Suggestions

OpenMETU
Core

THE ONTOLOGY OF CAPITAL: ON THE SHARED METHODOLOGICAL LIMITS OF MODERNIZATION THEORY AND ITS CRITICS Mücen, Barış (2018-06-01) This article argues that critical scholarship in historical studies has not overcome the methodological limits of modernization theory for failing to question the ontological principles that construct its object of analysis. I call these principles the ontology of capital and explicate them through Bourdieu's conceptualization of the field and capital. I argue that this ontology is established according to a distribution model in which social entities come into the analysis with the amount and value of the ...
On the ontology of linguistic frameworks toward a comprehensive version of empiricism Davoody Benı, Majıd (2015-01-01) Can the abstract entities be designated ? While the empiricists usually took the positive answer to this question as the first step toward Platonism, in his "Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology" [Carnap 1950], Carnap tried to make a reconciliation between the language referring to abstract entities on the one hand, and empiricism on the other. In this paper, firstly, I show that the ingenuity of Carnap's approach notwithstanding, it is prone to criticism from different aspects. But I also show how, even wit...
A Case study of problem solving in eye-tracking Özdemir, Doruk; Çakır, Murat Perit; Department of Cognitive Sciences (2013) Traditional theories of cognition have been critiqued for underestimating the role and contributions of embodied processes, more specifically the role of sensorimotor skills, in higher-order cognitive processes such as reasoning and problem-solving. Embodied theories of cognition have started to emphasize and illustrate the prominent roles of lower-level processes and sensorimotor skills in mental processes. This thesis aims to reveal the connection between higher cognitive skills, specifically problem-solv...
A new theory of content Aytekin, Tevfik; Sayan, Erdinç; Department of Philosophy (2003) Naturalistic philosophers of meaning try to define the recalcitrant concept of reference in terms respected by the empirical science, such as causality or teleology. In this thesis, after a brief introduction to these trials is given, Fodors theory of content in terms of asymmetric dependence is examined in some depth. I claim that although this theory involves an important insight, it is an unsatisfactory attempt at reduction of the notion of reference. I develop a new theory of content, which does not hav...
The Role of argumentation theory in scientific reasoning and science education Meriç, Gülden Alaz; Zambak, Aziz Fevzi; Department of Philosophy (2019) This thesis analyzes Argumentation Theory within the context of science education. Within this thesis’s purpose, foundations of Argumentation Theory together with the theory’s main elements are also explained. The role of Argumentation Theory is approached in two aspects, namely the philosophical aspect and the educational aspect. In the philosophical aspect, it is questioned whether some reformations in Argumentation Theory is needed for adapting it for science education. In the educational aspect, it is e...

Citation Formats

H. Karaaslan, “A Study of argumentation in Turkish within a Bayesian reasoning framework : arguments from ignorance,” Ph.D. - Doctoral Program, Middle East Technical University, 2012.