Date of Award
1988
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Abstract
It is argued that an adequate model-theoretic treatment of belief requires the devices of a "two-dimensional" intensional logic; a logic, that is, that can represent the relevant features of the epistemic situation of an agent in something like the way a logic of indexicals represents possible contexts of disourse. The general approach is illustrated by means of several examples, Kripke's "Puzzle About Belief" among them. A model theory is developed for a formal language containing a belief operator, quantifiers, description operator and identity predicate, and a truth predicate and reference operator. Certain properties of the model theory are demonstrated, and the application to "indexical belief" is sketched.
Recommended Citation
Clark, Ronald Romane, "Formal Semantics And Pragmatics Of Belief" (1988). Digitized Theses. 1677.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/digitizedtheses/1677