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How can questions be informative before they are answered?

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Author

Summary, in English

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.

Department/s

Publishing year

2012

Language

English

Pages

189-204

Publication/Series

Episteme

Volume

9

Issue

2

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Edinburgh University Press

Topic

  • Philosophy

Status

Published

Research group

  • Lund University Information Quality Research Group (LUIQ)

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1750-0117