N∅thing is Logical

People often reason contrary to the prescriptions of classical logic. In this project we study cases of divergence between everyday and logical-mathematical reasoning and, challenging the canonical view, we hypothesise that they are a straightforward consequence of a tendency in human cognition to neglect empty representations (neglect-zero).

We develop logics which formally represent the neglect-zero tendency and rigorously study its impact on interpretation; explore possible conventionalizations of neglect-zero effects in specific linguistic domains; and experimentally investigate the impact of neglect-zero in ordinary reasoning and its conjectured suspension for example in the context of a mathematical proof.

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Latest news


1 April 2024


Milica Denic is visiting the Nhil Project.

In the spring, Milica Denic from Tel Aviv University will be visiting the ILLC and NihiL project.

30 March 2024


NihiL members will present at the TLLM Workshop.

Aleksi Anttila, Marco Degano, Tomasz Klochowicz and Søren Knudstorp will present their work on “How to Split a Relation” and Aleksi Anttila will present “Further Remarks on the Dual Negation in Team Semantics” at the 4th Tsinghua Interdisciplinary Workshop on Logic, Language, and Meaning.

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18 March 2024


Justin Bledin is visiting the Nhil Project.

From 18 until 20 of March Justin Bledin from Johns Hopkins University will be visiting the NihiL project.