Feature-Based Induction

Abstract

A connectionist model of argument strength that applies to categorical arguments involving natural categories and predicates about which subjects have few prior beliefs is proposed. An example is robins have sesamoid bones, therefore falcons have sesamoid bones. The model is based on the hypothesis that argument strength is related to the proportion of the conclusion category's features that are shared by the premise categories. The model assumes a two-stage process. First, premises are encoded by connecting the features of premise categories to the predicate. Second, conclusions are tested by examining the degree of activation of the predicate upon presentation of the features of the conclusion category. The model accounts for 13 qualitative phenomena and shows close quantitative fits to several sets of argument strength ratings.