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The syntax and semantics of goals

arXiv · AI, language, vision and robotics · article · Sep 16, 2026 · UTC

In both cognitive science and computer science, goals are conceptualized as cognitive states that flexibly combine with world knowledge to organize and specify purposeful behavior. In this way, goals are compositional representations whose content relates to rational behavior. We here draw attention to goals as representations and their content because it highlights a parallel with other areas in cognitive science - in particular, the syntax-semantics interface in linguistics and logic - while also foregrounding foundational questions about the expressivity, design, and efficiency of different

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First collected: 2026-09-19T20:26:32.566Z. This is not the publication date.