Formal semantics (henceforth FS), at least as it relates to computational language understanding, is in one way rather like connectionism, though without the crucial prop Sejnowski’s work (1986) is widely believed to give to the latter: both are old doctrines returned, like the Bourbons, having learned nothing and forgotten nothing. But FS has nothing to show as a showpiece of success after all the intellectual groaning and effort.

On Keeping Logic in its Place (in Theoretical Issues in Natural Language Processing, ed. Wilks), Yorick Wilks, 1989 (p.130).