Videos footage from RuCCS Colloquium Talks can be found on the RuCCS YouTube Channel. For all other events, please check the sponsor's website for more detail.
To filter by event category, click on the event category link in the table below or use the menu on the right.
List of Past Events
Assertion, qualified
Peter van Elswyk
Thursday, September 29, 2016, 12:00pm - 01:00pm
Graduate Student, Rutgers University, Department of Philosophy
An assertion is an act that a speaker performs by using a declarative sentence to present a proposition for others to accept. Most work on assertion considers assertions performed only with unqualified declaratives like (1):
(1) Simone won gold.
(2) Simone won gold, I heard.
I will argue that this is an oversight. In particular, I will defend that assertions can also be performed with qualified declaratives like (2) as well as declaratives with grammatically obligatory evidentials that have a similar effect in other languages. I will further defend that these declaratives are not about the speaker’s epistemic position—(1) and (2) assert the same proposition, for example. A consequence of countenancing assertions performed by such declaratives is that much theorizing about assertion is mistaken. Contrary to the traditional views of Stalnaker, Clark, and others, assertion is not a proposal for mutual acceptance. A speaker needn’t accept what she asserts.
