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arXiv · 1210.7495

Illustrating a neural model of logic computations: The case of Sherlock Holmes' old maxim

Eduardo Mizraji
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Abstract

Natural languages can express some logical propositions that humans are able to understand. We illustrate this fact with a famous text that Conan Doyle attributed to Holmes: 'It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth'. This is a subtle logical statement usually felt as an evident truth. The problem we are trying to solve is the cognitive reason for such a feeling. We postulate here that we accept Holmes' maxim as true because our adult brains are equipped with neural modules that naturally perform modal logical computations.

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Eduardo Mizraji. 2016-02-27. Illustrating a neural model of logic computations: The case of Sherlock Holmes' old maxim. https://doi.org/10.1387/theoria.13959

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