Christoph Kelp (KU Leuven)

and

Mona Simion (University of Oslo)

Assertion: The Constitutive Norm View

21 April 2017, 16:00

Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa

Sala Mattos Romão (Departamento de Filosofia)

Abstract: According to what Williamson labels ‘the C account of assertion’, there is one and only one rule that is constitutive of assertion. This rule, the so-called ‘C Rule’, states that one must assert p only if p has property C. This paper has three aims: first, it looks at three extant arguments against the C account and argues that they fail. Second, it offers a new argument against the C-account; we argue that, in its current incarnation, the C account of assertion is incompatible with any live proposal for C in the literature. Third, we go on a rescue mission on behalf of the constitutivity claim, and we put forth a novel, function-first account, according to which the C-rule is constitutive of assertion in virtue of being constitutively associated with its epistemic function.

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