CIA Leaks

Abstract

Epistemic modals are standardly taken to be context-dependent quantifiers over possibilities. Thus sentences containing them get truth-values with respect to both a context and an index. But some insist that this relativization is not relative enough: `might'-claims, they say, only get truth-values with respect to contexts, indices, and—the new wrinkle—points of assessment (hence, cia). Here we argue against such “relativist” semantics. We begin with a sketch of the motivation for such theories and a generic formulation of them. Then we catalogue central problems that any such theory faces. We end by outlining an alternative story.

On the semantics and pragmatics of epistemic vocabulary

“…9 This is just the first step in an involved dialectic. For further discussion of eavesdropping arguments against truth-conditional accounts of epistemic vocabulary, see Egan, Hawthorne & Weatherson 2005, Egan 2007, Hawthorne 2007, von Fintel & Gillies 2008b, Knobe & Yalcin 2015, and MacFarlane 2011.…”

Shifty Contextualism About Epistemics

“…Explanations of this point are highly fraught-some theorists explain it by supposing that it's easier to accommodate the presupposition of start than the presupposition of a cleft; Robert Stalnaker (2002) is an influential example. Other theorists do not think that that is the best strategy: skeptics include Mandy Simons, Judith Tonhauser, David Beaver, and Craige Roberts (2011), Kai von Fintel (2008), and Christopher Gauker (2008). Importantly, though, the parties all agree about the data that matter here-that it's easier to use start to introduce new information.…”

“…Broadly relativist approaches include at least Andy Egan (2007), Andy Egan, John Hawthorne, and Brian Weatherson (2005), John MacFarlane (2007;, and Tamina Stephenson (2007). Broadly contextualist approaches include at least Pranav Anand and Valentine Hacquard (2013), Kent Bach (2011), Gunnar Björnsson and Alexander Almér (2010), Gunnar Björnsson and Stephen Finlay (2010), David Braun (2012), Herman Cappelen and John Hawthorne (2009), Ezra Cook (2013), Janice Dowell (2011;, Angelika Kratzer (1977;, Kai von Fintel and Anthony Gillies (2008;, John Hawthorne (2007), Torfinn Huvenes (2015), Justin Khoo (2015), and Crispin Wright (2007). Broadly dynamic views include at least Frank Veltman (1996) and Malte Willer (2013;.…”

“…An important range of complicated cases are discussed in Andy Egan, John Hawthorne, and Brian Weatherson (2005), Andy Egan (2007), and Anthony Gillies and Kai von Fintel (2008).…”

Iffiness

“…So let's keep things simple here. If you'd rather be reading a paper which has these (and other) complexities at the forefront, see von Fintel & Gillies 2007, 2008a,b and the references therein.…”