Abstract of Paper to be Presented at Accio 2008

The Nonmonotonic Narrative Structure in the Harry Potter Series

Abel Rubén Hernández-Ulloa

The main purpose of this paper is to show how the Harry Potter series uses a nonmonotonic argumentative structure. This structure, in the first place, presents evidence leading to some conclusions,, but later new information is given, and those conclusions must be withdrawn. This work is divided in two parts. In the first part I will explain what a nonmonotonic logical structure means and how this has been used to study human cognition. In the second part I will show how the Harry Potter series uses this kind of structure, particularly in book three, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.