The subject matter of master disseration is rational behavior. Its dedicated to the following questions: what kind of behavior can be named “rational”, and how we can model it in strict logical terms (and then in program languages). These questions were raised earlier in Artificial Intelligence researches, and very soon the modeling of human behavior for computers encounters some problems. The general name of these problems is the frame problem.The main aim of the research work is solution of the frame problem from deontic logic point of view. I find this formalism the most suitable for investigation of human (rational) behavior. The work contain historical consideration of the frame problem and its strict definition in terms of basic formalism, as interconnection of two correlated problems: ramification problem and qualification problem. The ramification problem is given an option to solve it by extending the basic formalism (with adding of notion of state constraints, influence information and, most importantly, the laws of causal relationships). To solve the problem of qualification the formalism is extended by introducing possible worlds semantic. We consider the properties of this model and offers a solution to the problem of qualification through valuation by the expectation degree, and introducing normative modal operators on this basis. / Общая тема магистерской диссертации - рациональное поведение. Рассмотрение последнего в рамках Искусственного Интеллекта с точки зрения моделирования в строгих логических терминах (для последующего воспроизведения в языках программирования) привело к выявлению ряда трудностей. Общее название им - проблема фреймов. Главная цель данной работы - решение проблемы фреймов с точки зрения логики деонтических модальностей. В диссертации проводится историческое рассмотрение проблемы фреймов, дается строгое её определение для введенного базового формализма (как двух взаимосвязанных проблем — проблемы ветвлений и проблемы квалификации). Рассматривается проблема ветвлений, дается вариант её решения за счет расширения базового формализма (добавляются понятия ограничений состояний, информации о влияниях, и, самое главное, законов причинных связей). Рассматривается проблема квалификации, базовый формализм расширяется посредством введения для него семантики возможных миров, рассматриваются свойства этой модели и предлагается вариант решения проблемы квалификации за счет оценки по степени ожидаемости, и вводящихся на этой основе модальных нормативных операторов.

Reading is a past time activity that is popular all around the world. It is something thathelps us escape reality and put our focus elsewhere. When immersing yourself in afictional world, it can be intriguing to think of how it was created. When we think ofworld-building, we think especially of fantasy works such as The Lord of The Rings orSF classics such as Dune takes place. But what about fictional worlds that are closer tothe world known by its readers? Ernest Hemingway based his novel The Old Man andThe Sea on the actual world, which makes it believable and relatable. Most previousstudiesfocus on underlying meanings of the narrative, on metaphors orstylistic choices.It is a novel that is narratively limited to one man and a fish out in the open ocean, butit still feels as if the world surrounding them is vast. Hemingway was known for usinga simple style when creating his fictional worlds and this essay will try to comprehendhow he managed to create such an intricate world by following one simple fishermanand his struggle with the biggest fish of his life. In this essay I will argue that the useof an emic point of view – using the perception of the protagonist Santiago – invitesthe reader to recenter to one point in this vast world, while the occasional intrusion ofan etic perspective establishes a connection between the narrator and reader thatlocalizes Santiago’s point of view.

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I denna uppsats analyseras spelen Howling Dogs och 16 Ways to Kill a Vampire at McDonalds ur ett narratologiskt perspektiv. Huvuddelen av analysen fokuserar på hur hypertextens mediala förhållanden påverkar relationen mellan spelaren och narrativet samt på förhållandet mellan berättare och lyssnarinstans. Analysen baserar sig på metoder med utgångspunkt i possible worlds theory, formulerat av Alice Bell. Uppsatsen exemplifierar hur man går till väga i analys av texter med ett starkt deiktiskt förhållande mellan texten och läsaren. Syftet är att undersöka existerande metoder och att förbättra dem, tillika en, möjligtvis naiv, förhoppning om att komma ett steg närmare ett större litteraturvetenskapligt intresse gällande vad spel kan tillföra litteraturvetenskapen. / This essay contains narratological analyses of the games Howling Dogs and 16 Ways to Kill a Vampire at McDonalds. The analyses are focused on the hypertext’s medial impact on the relations between user and narrative as well as narrator and narratee. The work is based on methods using possible worlds theory, created by theorists such as Alice Bell. A main purpose here is to further exemplify how to analyze texts having a deictic effect between themselves self and their readers. The purpose here is thus to test existing methods and further develop them. This purpose is also motivated by a, possibly naïve, hope of getting one step closer to a wider acknowledgement of how games can contribute to the subject of literature.

Text in Afrikaans / Because of the variety of relationships which exist between transitive verbs and their objects, all direct objects are not comparable with one another. One class of object, however, which stands by itself and which is of considerable interest, is the OBJECT OF RESULT. Because of the particular relation which exists between object and transitive verb in resulting constructions, we have here an unique class of direct object. The resulting construction is therefore, in the first instance a relation construction. This specific relation between transitive verb and object is mainly determined by the presence of or absence of certain inherent distinctive characteristics by transitive verbs and which play a determining role in identifying OBJECTS OF RESULT. From this study it is also clear that there is a semantic value present in transitive verbs (that can combine with objects of result) which has not been observed or distinguished by lexicographers and grammarians until recently. / Omdat voorwerpe van sinne in 'n verskeidenheid van betrekkinge met (oorganklike) werkwoorde kan staan, is alle direkte voorwerpe nie almal in alle opsigte vergelykbaar met mekaar nie. Waarskynlik die interessantste voorwerp in hierdie verskeidenheid is die RESULTATIEWE VOORWERP. As gevolg van die besondere verhouding wat daar bestaan tussen hierdie voorwerp en die HW, het ans hier te make met 'n unieke tipe direkte voorwerp wat kan aanspraak maak op 'n eie bestaansreg as 'n subkategorie van die hoofkategorie: Direkte Voorwerpe. Die resulterende konstruksie is dus, in die eerste plek, 'n verhoudingskonstruksie. Hierdie spesifieke verhouding tussen die HW en die voorwerp word grootliks bepaal deur die aan- of afwesigheid van sekere inherente distinktiewe kenmerke wat by oorganklike werkwoorde voorkom en wat 'n bepalende rol speel by die ontstaan van en identifisering van RESUL TATIEWE VOORWERPE. Uit hierdie ondersoek sal verder blyk dat daar 'n semantiese waarde by oorganklike werkwoorde is wat tot dusver nag nie deur taalkundiges/woordeboekmakers of woordverklaarders onderskep en onderskei is nie. Oorganklike werkwoorde kan dus fyner gedefinieer word ten opsigte van hul verbindbaarheid, al dan nie, met resultatiewe voorwerpe. / Language Education, Arts and Culture / M.A. (Afrikaans)

The inadequacy of the usual possible world semantics of modal languages when the meaning of 'belief' is attached to the modal operator is discussed. Three other approaches are then investigated. In the case of Moore's autoepistemic logic it becomes possible to compare an agent's beliefs to 'reality', which cannot be done directly in the possible world semantics. Levesque's semantics makes explicit in the object language the notion of 'this is all the information the agent has', which plays an important role in nonmonotonic reasoning. Both of these approaches deal with ideal reasoners. The third approach, Konolige's deduction model, is based on a semantics capable of describing the beliefs of one or more resourcebounded agents. Finally, the AGM postulates for belief revision are discussed. / Computer Science / M.Sc. (Computer Science)

This thesis is concerned with the interaction between literature and abstract thought. More specifically, it studies the epistemological charge of the literary, the type of knowledge that is carried by elements proper to fictional narratives into different disciplines. By concentrating on two different theoretical methods, the creation of thought experiments and the framing of possible worlds, methods which were elaborated and are still used today in spheres as varied as modal logics, analytic philosophy and physics, and by following their reinsertion within literary theory, the research develops the theory that both thought experiments and possible worlds are in fact short narrative stories that inform knowledge through literary means. By using two novels, Abbott’s Flatland and Vonnegut’s The Sirens of Titan, that describe extra-dimensional existence in radically different ways, respectively as a phenomenologically unknowable space and as an outward perspective on time, it becomes clear that literature is constitutive of the way in which worlds, fictive, real or otherwise, are constructed and understood. Thus dimensions, established through extensional analogies as either experimental knowledge or modal possibility for a given world, generate new directions for thought, which can then take part in the inductive/deductive process of scientia. By contrasting the dimensions of narrative with the way that dimensions were historically constituted, the research also establishes that the literary opens up an infinite potential of abstract space-time domains, defined by their specific rules and limits, and that these different experimental folds are themselves partaking in a dimensional process responsible for new forms of understanding. Over against science fiction literary theories of speculation that posit an equation between the fictive and the real, this thesis examines the complex structure of many overlapping possibilities that can organise themselves around larger compossible wholes, thus offering a theory of reading that is both non-mimetic and non-causal. It consequently examines the a dynamic process whereby literature is always reconceived through possibilities actualised by reading while never defining how the reader will ultimately understand the overarching structure. In this context, the thesis argues that a causal story can be construed out of any one interaction with a given narrative—underscoring, for example, the divinatory strength of a particular vision of the future—even as this narrative represents only a fraction of the potential knowledge of any particular literary text. Ultimately, the study concludes by tracing out how novel comprehensions of the literary, framed by the material conditions of their own space and time, endlessly renew themselves through multiple interactions, generating analogies and speculations that facilitate the creation of new knowledge. / Cette thèse se penche sur l’interaction entre la littérature et la pensée abstraite. Plus spécifiquement, elle étudie la charge épistémologique du littéraire, le type de savoir qui est transporté par des éléments propres aux narrations fictives vers d’autres champs disciplinaires. En ce concentrant sur deux méthodes théoriques, la création d’expériences de pensée et l’établissement de mondes possibles, des méthodes qui ont été élaborées et sont toujours d’usage aujourd’hui dans des disciplines aussi variées que la logique modale, la philosophie analytique et la physique, et en suivant leur réinsertion à même la théorie littéraire, la recherche développe la postulat que les expériences de pensée et les mondes possibles sont en fait de courtes histoires narratives qui informent le savoir par des moyens littéraire. En utilisant Flatland de Abbott et The Sirens of Titan de Vonnegut, deux romans qui décrivent l’existence extra-dimensionnelle de façons radicalement différentes, un espace phénoménologiquement inconnaissable chez Abbott et une perspective extérieure au temps chez Vonnegut, il devient clair que la littérature est constitutive de la façon qu’un monde— qu’il soit fictif, réel ou autre—est construit et compris. Ainsi, les dimensions établies par des analogies extensionnelles génèrent de nouvelles directions pour la pensée, qui peut ensuite prendre part au processus inductif/déductif de la scientia. En contrastant les dimensions narratives avec la notion de dimension telle qu’elle s’est constituée historiquement, la recherche établit également que le littéraire ouvre un potentiel infini de domaines spatiotemporels abstraits, définis par leurs règles et leurs limites spécifiques, et que ces différents plis expérimentaux prennent eux-mêmes part dans un processus dimensionnel responsable pour de nouvelles formes de compréhensions. Au-delà des théories spéculatives qu’on retrouve dans l’étude de la science-fiction, où est mise de l’avant une équation entre le fictif et le réel, cette thèse examine la structure complexe de plusieurs possibilités superposées qui peuvent s’organiser autour d’ensembles compossibles plus importants, ainsi offrant une théorie de la lecture qui est à la fois non- mimétique et non-causale. En conséquence, l’investigation examine un processus dynamique par lequel la littérature est toujours reconsidérée au travers des possibilités qui sont actualisées par la lecture, alors qu’elle ne définit jamais la compréhension ultime que le lecteur ou la lectrice se fera de la structure globale du texte. Dans ce contexte, la thèse argumente qu’une histoire causale peut être créée à partir de n’importe quelle interaction avec le texte— soulignant, par exemple, la force divinatoire d’une vision du futur particulière—même si cette narration ne représente qu’une fraction du savoir potentiel contenu à l’intérieur de n’importe quel texte littéraire particulier. Ultimement, l’étude conclut en décrivant comment de nouvelles compréhensions du texte, encadrées par les conditions matérielles de leur propre espace et temps, se renouvellent sans cesse grâce à des interactions multiples, ainsi générant des analogies et des spéculations qui facilitent la création de nouveaux savoirs.

J'ai voulu étudier un phénomène qui sous-tend l'écriture de la littérature spéculative (science-fiction et fantasy) aujourd'hui : la création d'un « monde secondaire », selon l'expression de J.R.R. Tolkien. Deux problèmes se posaient de prime abord. Premièrement, l'ensemble culturel et éditorial que recouvre l'expression « littérature spéculative » est relativement flou, du fait des problèmes de délimitation des genres et de la problématique culturelle plus générale (la littérature spéculative est-elle définie par des motifs littéraires, ou par l'appareil culturel qui l'entoure ?). Deuxièmement, un « monde secondaire » est-il uniquement un univers inventé entièrement différent ou détaché du monde réel, ou peut-il recouper le monde réel, etc. ? La littérature spéculative étant un genre foisonnant et en pleine évolution, j'ai pris le parti de ne pas donner de réponses définitives. Plutôt que de tenter de tracer des frontières, j'ai cherché à mettre en évidence les différents éléments dont se constituent les mondes secondaires : les traditions du genre sur lesquels les auteurs s'appuient pour transmettre la vision d'un univers original à leurs lecteurs, entre mise en avant de l'originalité et utilisation d'éléments connus comme soubassement, ainsi que la vision particulière de l'histoire, de la géographie et de la place de l'humanité dans le monde que les auteurs développent. Cette réflexion se veut située à la fois en amont et en aval de l'acte d'écriture. Elle se conclut sur les questions qui se posent aux auteurs contemporains : questions de renouvellement du genre, ou d'ouverture sur les autres médias, en particulier ceux que pratiquent les amateurs. / I endeavoured to study a phenomenon underlying contemporary speculative fiction (science fiction and fantasy): the creation of a ‘secondary world', to use J.R.R. Tolkien's phrasing. I had to solve two preliminary problems. First, the cultural and economic phenomenon that speculative fiction represents has a blurry outline, questions regarding genre delimitation and wider cultural problems (is speculative fiction defined only by a number of literary patterns, or by the whole cultural apparatus that goes with it?) being difficult to answer. Secondly, does the notion secondary worlds only apply to invented worlds that are entirely different or detached from the real world, or can it be applied to texts that take place at least partly in the real world, etc.? Speculative fiction being a diverse genre that has been steadily evolving for years, I have chosen to avoid giving definitive answers to those questions. Instead of looking for boundaries, I have tried to emphasise the various building blocks of secondary worlds in speculative fiction: the traditions of the genre authors rely on to convey their view of an original universe to their readers, in a dialogue between known elements used as a foundation and the idiosyncratic view of history, geography and the place of mankind in the particular secondary world developed by the author. In an attempt to open this study to the contemporary practice of world-building, I have concluded with the questions that speculative fiction authors face today: how to renew the tropes of the genre, how speculative fiction pervades other media, in particular the practices of fans.

This study brings the insights of Slavoj Žižek’s Lacan-inspired approach to bear upon a series of influential 20th century plays and their engagement with what Lacan calls the Real. The plays to be explored share a focus on experiences, events or encounters which transcend, exceed, disrupt, and in some cases shatter characters’ normal, familiar realities. Examined through the lens of Žižek, these confrontations with the sublime and the fantastic reveal a crucial relation to the plays’ contemporary contexts, prompting us to “look awry” upon the dynamics of our own symbolically-regulated reality and the ever-changing and precarious nature of our relation to it. Similarly crucial is the relation of the Lacanian Real to our theatrical forms and modes of perception in the theatre. In staging “encounters with the Real,” these plays prompt us simultaneously to explore the ways in which the Real operates —and “appears” — in our own theatrical experience, ensnaring our gaze and the force of our desire. The study offers a Žižekian approach to works including Peter Shaffer’s Equus, John Mighton’s Possible Worlds, S. An-sky’s The Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds, Caryl Churchill’s The Skriker, Tony Kushner’s The Illusion, and Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt’s Enigma Variations.

This study brings the insights of Slavoj Žižek’s Lacan-inspired approach to bear upon a series of influential 20th century plays and their engagement with what Lacan calls the Real. The plays to be explored share a focus on experiences, events or encounters which transcend, exceed, disrupt, and in some cases shatter characters’ normal, familiar realities. Examined through the lens of Žižek, these confrontations with the sublime and the fantastic reveal a crucial relation to the plays’ contemporary contexts, prompting us to “look awry” upon the dynamics of our own symbolically-regulated reality and the ever-changing and precarious nature of our relation to it. Similarly crucial is the relation of the Lacanian Real to our theatrical forms and modes of perception in the theatre. In staging “encounters with the Real,” these plays prompt us simultaneously to explore the ways in which the Real operates —and “appears” — in our own theatrical experience, ensnaring our gaze and the force of our desire. The study offers a Žižekian approach to works including Peter Shaffer’s Equus, John Mighton’s Possible Worlds, S. An-sky’s The Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds, Caryl Churchill’s The Skriker, Tony Kushner’s The Illusion, and Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt’s Enigma Variations.