The dynamics of situations

François Recanati (1, 2)

1 CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
2 EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales

Every statement represents a certain state of affairs as holding in a certain situation, which the statement concerns. The situation which a statement concerns is indicated by the context. It must be distinguished from whichever situation may be explicitly mentioned in the statement. In this framework, two cognitive processes are analysed: projection and reflection. Both involve two representations: one which concerns a situation s, and another one which explicitly mentions that situation. Through reflection we go from the representation concerning s to the representation mentioning s. Through projection we go from the representation mentioning s to the representation concerning s.

Domaines: Linguistique

François Recanati. The dynamics of situations. European Review of Philosophy, 1997, 2, pp.41-75. ⟨ijn_00000179⟩