THEMATIC RELATIONS AND ARGUMENTS

Thematic relations can be accurately defined by formulas like ''x is the theme of event e iff e is of x.'' These definitions, though not providing insight, can correctly classify the participants of events and states and defuse a variety of criticisms of the use of thematic relations in semantic theory. Further, these relations can be usefully employed in logical forms associated with nouns as well as verbs (the stabbing of Caesar, as well as stab Caesar) while preserving the important differences between the ways in which nouns and verbs combine with their arguments.