Seth Yalcin, University of California, Berkeley
16. Juni 2021  16.45 – 18.45h CEST   Virtual conference room
Register by emailing alexandra.klot(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)univie.ac.at

Poster WKAP-Lecture Seth Yalcin

Defining the Common Ground

The notion of the common ground of a conversation is central to pragmatics. If we don’t take this notion as primitive, can we explain it in terms of the states of the individual conversing agents? There’s a tradition, owing to Stalnaker, of explaining the common ground in terms of common belief, or in terms of a belief-like notion of acceptance. I will argue that this sort of approach can’t work. I’ll then explore alternatives. To explain the notion of common ground, I’ll suggest we need the notions of presupposition, of publicity, and of knowledge. I won’t suggest that what is common ground is just what is common knowledge, but we’ll see that knowledge does have something to do with it.