Coordinating perspectives: De se and taste attitudes in communication.

Area of Science:

• Philosophy of Language
• Philosophy of Mind
• Linguistics

Background:

• Traditional models view communication as direct information transfer.
• Lewisian philosophy posits belief as self-location, encompassing subjective attitudes.
• A conflict exists between these views on belief and communication.

Purpose of the Study:

• To reconcile the information-transmission view of communication with the Lewisian perspective on belief.
• To propose a novel account of mental attitudes and communication.
• To develop a formal model for understanding subjective content in communication.

Main Methods:

• Developing an account of mental attitudes and communication using multicentered worlds.
• Constructing a Stalnakerian model of communication based on multicentered worlds content.
• Providing a formal semantics for personal pronouns and predicates of personal taste.

Main Results:

• Mental attitudes and speech act content are modeled as sets of multicentered worlds.
• A Stalnakerian communication model is established using this content representation.
• Semantics for subjective expressions like personal pronouns and taste predicates are developed.

Conclusions:

• The proposed multicentered worlds framework successfully reconciles conflicting views on communication and belief.
• This approach offers a unified account of mental content and communicative acts.
• The coordination of individual perspectives is identified as the core purpose of conversation.