This book develops in detail the simple idea that assertion is the expression of belief. In it the author puts forward a version of 'probabilistic semantics' which acknowledges that we are not perfectly rational, and which offers a significant advance in generality on theories of meaning couched in terms of truth conditions. It promises to challenge a number of entrenched and widespread views about the relations of language and mind. Part I presents a functionalist account of belief, worked through a modified form of decision theory. In Part II the author generates a theory of meaning in terms of 'assertibility conditions', whereby to know the meaning of an assertion is to know the belief it expresses.
| ISBN: | 9780521071291 |
| Publication date: | 28th August 2008 |
| Author: | Anthony Appiah |
| Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 280 pages |
| Series: | Cambridge Studies in Philosophy |
| Genres: |
Philosophy: logic |