An Analysis of the Role of Syntax in Inductive Inference

Inductive inference is a well-studied form of nonmonotonic

reasoning in which various inference is based on

conditional belief bases rather than belief bases

consisting of classical logic statements. Given its

nonmonotonic nature, many important logical properties that

are taken for granted in the classical case do not

necessarily carry over to inference involving conditionals.

In this paper we consider two such properties---equivalence

and language-independence. More specifically, we provide

different notions of equivalence in the conditional case,

and show which of these are satisfied by which forms of

conditional inference. Similarly, we consider different

versions of language independence, and test various forms

of conditional inference against these. As its main overall

contribution, the paper provides deeper theoretical

insights into the field of inductive inference.