Skip to content
Carmelics
TopicsThinkersChangesContributorsLoading account…

    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

    Navigate

    • Topics
    • Search
    • Recent Changes
    • Contribute
    • How It Works
    • Glossary
    • Thinkers
    • Contributors
    • About
    • Statistics
    • Terms
    • Privacy

    Database

    Statements
    —
    Perspectives
    —
    Topics
    —

    Press ? for keyboard shortcuts

    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Asher — Carmelics
    Thinkers/Asher
    A

    Asher

    contemporaryFormal Semantics, Analytic Philosophy of Language

    b. 1958

    Nicholas Asher is a contemporary philosopher and formal semanticist working at the intersection of philosophy of language, linguistics, and logic. He is best known for developing Segmented Discourse Representation Theory (SDRT), a significant extension of Kamp's Discourse Representation Theory (DRT) that formally models discourse structure, coherence relations, and the semantics of multi-sentence texts. His research spans lexical semantics, implicature, anaphora, and the logical foundations of natural language interpretation.

    WWikipedia

    Notable Achievements

    1

    Developed Segmented Discourse Representation Theory (SDRT), formalizing discourse coherence and rhetorical structure

    2

    Authored foundational works including 'Reference to Abstract Objects in Discourse' (1993) and 'Logics of Conversation' (2003)

    3

    Advanced the formal semantics of accessibility relations within Discourse Representation Theory

    4

    Contributed systematic accounts of lexical meaning in context, including coercion and type-shifting phenomena

    5

    Pioneered computational and logical treatments of anaphora resolution across discourse

    Positions & Arguments(1)

    Philosophy of Language

    claim

    The accessibility relation between DRSs is not stipulated but is entailed by the semantics of the DRS language

    Modality & Possibility

    claim

    The accessibility relation between DRSs is not stipulated but is entailed by the semantics of the DRS language

    At a Glance

    Ideas

    1

    Topics

    2

    Era

    contemporary

    Tradition

    Formal Semantics, Analytic Philosophy of Language

    Topic Influence

    Modality & Possibility1
    Philosophy of Language1

    Related Thinkers

    Immanuel Kant2 sharedDavid Lewis2 sharedBertrand Russell2 sharedAristotle2 sharedPlato2 sharedvan Fraassen2 sharedDavid Hume2 sharedLudwig Wittgenstein2 shared

    Dive Deeper

    Explore Modality & Possibility→See Philosophy of Language→