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Bilateralism, collapsing modalities, and the logic of assertion and denial

Kuerbis, Nils; (2024) Bilateralism, collapsing modalities, and the logic of assertion and denial. Theoria , 90 (2) pp. 177-190. 10.1111/theo.12516. Green open access

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Abstract

Rumfitt has given two arguments that in unilateralist verificationist theories of meaning, truth collapses into correct assertibility. In the present paper I give similar arguments that show that in unilateral falsificationist theories of meaning, falsehood collapses into correct deniability. According to bilateralism, meanings are determined by assertion and denial conditions, so the question arises whether it succumbs to similar arguments. I show that this is not the case. The final section considers the question whether a principle central to Rumfitt's first argument, ‘It is assertible that (Formula presented.) if and only if it is assertible that it is assertible that (Formula presented.) ’, is one that bilateralists can reject, and concludes that they cannot. It follows that the logic of assertibility and deniability, according to a result by Williamson, is the little known modal logic K4 studied by Sobociński. The paper ends with a plaidoyer for bilateralists to adopt this logic.

Type: Article
Title: Bilateralism, collapsing modalities, and the logic of assertion and denial
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1111/theo.12516
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1111/theo.12516
Language: English
Additional information: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permitsuse and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications oradaptations are made.
Keywords: Assertion, bilateralism, denial, falsificationism, Moore’s paradox, theories of meaning, verificationism
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Dept of Philosophy
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10193334
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