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How can questions be informative before they are answered?

Genot, Emmanuel LU and Jacot, Justine LU (2012) In Episteme 9(2). p.189-204
Abstract
We examine a special case of inquiry games inspired by Hintikka's interrogative model of inquiry, and give an account of the informational import of asking questions. We focus on yes-no questions, which always carry information about the questioner's strategy, but never about the state of Nature, and show how strategic information reduces uncertainty through inferences about other players' goals and strategies. This uncertainty cannot always be captured by information structures of classical game theory. We conclude on the connection with Gricean pragmatics and contextual constraints on interpretation.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Episteme
volume
9
issue
2
pages
189 - 204
publisher
Edinburgh University Press
external identifiers
  • wos:000310511600008
  • scopus:85010685955
ISSN
1750-0117
DOI
10.1017/epi.2012.8
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
0c18f712-485b-4f32-8c8f-7e6e39e036f8 (old id 2756654)
alternative location
http://lu.academia.edu/JacotJustine/Papers/505024/How_Can_Questions_Be_Informative_Before_They_Are_Answered_Strategic_Information_In_Interrogative_Games
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:23:21
date last changed
2022-01-25 22:46:46
@article{0c18f712-485b-4f32-8c8f-7e6e39e036f8,
  abstract     = {{We examine a special case of inquiry games inspired by Hintikka's interrogative model of inquiry, and give an account of the informational import of asking questions. We focus on yes-no questions, which always carry information about the questioner's strategy, but never about the state of Nature, and show how strategic information reduces uncertainty through inferences about other players' goals and strategies. This uncertainty cannot always be captured by information structures of classical game theory. We conclude on the connection with Gricean pragmatics and contextual constraints on interpretation.}},
  author       = {{Genot, Emmanuel and Jacot, Justine}},
  issn         = {{1750-0117}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{189--204}},
  publisher    = {{Edinburgh University Press}},
  series       = {{Episteme}},
  title        = {{How can questions be informative before they are answered?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/epi.2012.8}},
  doi          = {{10.1017/epi.2012.8}},
  volume       = {{9}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}