Pragmatics of veridicity

Denis Vernant

pp. 229-244

in: Manuel Rebuschi, Gerhard Heinzmann, Michel Musiol, Alain Trognon (eds), Interdisciplinary works in logic, epistemology, psychology and linguistics, Berlin, Springer, 2014

Abstract

We use here the analytical tools of contemporary logic and pragmatics to propose a study of veridicity , seen as the set of all attitudes expressed by a speaker about the truthfulness of what he/she is saying. Combining the logical operators that bear on propositional content (affirmation and negation) with the pragmatic operations (asserting, considering, denying, estiming), we construct an axiomatic system (as alternative interpretation of hexagon of opposition) with its syntactical and semantical presentations. Such a system provides a formal structure !formal that holds not only for veridictional speech acts, but also for the belief attitudes associated with them.