On the problem of theoretical terms in empirical computational linguistics
Philosophy of science has pointed out a problem of theoretical terms in empirical sciences. This problem arises if all known measuring procedures for a quantity of a theory presuppose the validity of this very theory, because then statements containing theoretical terms are circular. We argue that a...
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| Format: | Article (Journal) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
March 04, 2014
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| In: |
Computational linguistics
Year: 2014, Volume: 40, Issue: 1, Pages: 235-245 |
| ISSN: | 1530-9312 |
| DOI: | 10.1162/COLI_a_00182 |
| Online Access: | Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1162/COLI_a_00182
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| Author Notes: | Stefan Riezler |
| Summary: | Philosophy of science has pointed out a problem of theoretical terms in empirical sciences. This problem arises if all known measuring procedures for a quantity of a theory presuppose the validity of this very theory, because then statements containing theoretical terms are circular. We argue that a similar circularity can happen in empirical computational linguistics, especially in cases where data are manually annotated by experts. We define a criterion of T-non-theoretical grounding as guidance to avoid such circularities, and exemplify how this criterion can be met by crowdsourcing, by task-related data annotation, or by data in the wild. We argue that this criterion should be considered as a necessary condition for an empirical science, in addition to measures for reliability of data annotation. |
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| Item Description: | Gesehen am 21.09.2020 |
| Physical Description: | Online Resource |
| ISSN: | 1530-9312 |
| DOI: | 10.1162/COLI_a_00182 |