Knowledge embedded

Area of Science:

• Epistemology
• Philosophy of Language
• Linguistics

Background:

• Philosophical accounts of knowledge often grapple with contextual variability.
• Invariantism proposes that contextual factors influencing knowledge claims are purely pragmatic, not semantic.
• This view leaves the semantic meaning of 'know that' context-independent.

Purpose of the Study:

• To challenge the invariantist division of labor in explaining contextual variability of knowledge claims.
• To demonstrate the inadequacy of pragmatic invariantism in accounting for embedded knowledge constructions.
• To introduce and analyze the threefold problem of embedded implicatures.

Main Methods:

• Argumentative analysis of philosophical theories of knowledge.
• Examination of embedded occurrences of 'S knows/doesn't know that p' within various linguistic constructions.
• Development of a critique of pragmatic invariantism.

Main Results:

• Pragmatic invariantism fails to provide a principled account of embedded knowledge claims.
• Embedded occurrences of knowledge constructions present a threefold problem of implicatures.
• Contextual variability in knowledge claims has semantic implications beyond pragmatics.

Conclusions:

• The invariantist account of knowledge claims is insufficient.
• A more nuanced theory is needed to explain the context-sensitivity of 'know that' in embedded constructions.
• The threefold problem of embedded implicatures highlights limitations in current invariantist approaches.