Faculty of Humanities

Publications

• Book

  Vervoort L.

  Problem Solving in Philosophy. How to Do Philosophy in the Age of Ultra-Intelligent AI

  This open access book provides a method for philosophical problem solving, offering philosophers the tools to stay ahead of machine intelligence. Louis Vervoort argues that, with ultra-intelligent AI knocking at the door, philosophy can no longer rely solely on its ancient methodological toolkit. The proposed method is essentially the same as used in natural science, theoretical physics in particular, and aims at solving problems through theory-synthesis. The author shows by first case studies that current AI can already assist us in this task – a trend that will surely strengthen in the near future. After explaining the method in detail, the book proceeds by proposing unified solutions to classic problems of (analytic) philosophy, such as Gettier’s problem, the problem of induction, of causation, of the interpretation of probability, of free will. The author argues that these solutions maximise a quantitative measure of solidity, and that philosophy can now reach standards of certainty that are comparable to those of natural science. The book is written for professional philosophers, but avoids jargon, so it should also be accessible to laypeople and scientists.

  Springer, 2026.

• Article

  Khachaturyan M., Konoshenko M., Moroz G. et al.

  Development of Narrative Competence in Mano, Mande

  This paper provides an overview of morphological and syntactic means of relating events in narratives in Mano, a Mande language of West Africa. For this study, we collected a corpus containing retellings in Mano of an animated movie, “Kirikou et la sorcière,” as well as other narratives, mostly folktales, told by children and adults. Overall, a linear mixed-effect model revealed a statistically significant effect of text type and age, with increased predicted values of entropy in free narratives as well as in older speakers. We explored the following aspects: narrative chains, connectivity, and hierarchical
  organization. We compared texts based on the narrator’s age and the narrative type (narrative retelling vs. free narratives). Both factors played a role for various aspects of narrative organization. There were very few developmental or genre differences in the use of main tense forms used in the narrative chain. By contrast, connecting devices and means of hierarchical organization were used more and were more varied
  in older children and adults. Hierarchical organization was also more developed in free narratives than in Kirikou retellings but means of expressing connectivity were more diverse in Kirikou retellings than in free narratives.

  
  
  

  First Language. 2026. P. 1-32.

• Book chapter

  Bulakh M.

  Why did Old Ethiopic cease to be a spoken language?

  It is generally acknowledged that Old Ethiopic (Gəʕz) was a spoken language in the Aksumite kingdom, and that it enjoyed high status both politically and culturally. Likewise, it is generally acknowledged that Old Ethiopic ceased to be a spoken language before the Solomonic dynasty came to power. However, both the circumstances that led to its death as a vernacular and even approximate date of this event remain obscure. The present paper is an attempt to approach both questions, offering some reflections on the sociolinguistic factors which could have brought about at first, the rise of Old Ethiopic and later, its decline as a spoken language.

  In bk.: From Aksum to Lalibäla. The Myth of the “Dark Ages” of Eritrean and Ethiopian History (7th–13th centuries). Napoli: UniorPress, 2026. P. 53-69.

• Working paper

  Orekhov B.

  You shall know a piece by the company it keeps. Chess plays as a data for word2vec models

  In this paper, I apply linguistic methods of analysis to non-linguistic data, chess plays, metaphorically equating one with the other and seeking analogies. Chess game notations are also a kind of text, and one can consider the records of moves or positions of pieces as words and statements in a certain language. In this article I show how word embeddings (word2vec) can work on chess game texts instead of natural language texts. I don't see how this representation of chess data can be used productively. It's unlikely that these vector models will help engines or people choose the best move. But in a purely academic sense, it's clear that such methods of information representation capture something important about the very nature of the game, which doesn't necessarily lead to a win.

  arxiv.org. Computer Science. Cornell University, 2024