Assertion

Abstract

An assertion is a speech act in which something is claimed to hold, e.g. that there are infinitely many prime numbers, or, with respect to some time t, that there is a traffic congestion on Brooklyn Bridge at t, or, of some person x with respect to some time t, that x has a tooth ache at t. The concept of assertion has often occupied a central place in the philosophy of language, since it is often thought that making assertions is the use of language most crucial to linguistic meaning, and since assertions are the natural expressions of cognitive attitudes, and hence of importance for theories of knowledge and belief.The nature of assertion and its relation to other categories and phenomena have been subject to much controversy. Various accounts of assertion are presented in the sections below. For instance, the knowledge account is presented in section 6. (There is no section dedicated to assertion accounts generally.) The accounts presented include Stalnaker’s rules of assertion (section 2.1, supplement on pragmatics); principles directly relating truth and assertion (section 5.2); norms of truth—accounts centering on the aim of truth (section 5.4); the principle of correctness (section 5.5); norms of belief or sincerity (section 6); norms of knowledge (section 6.2); Gricean or Neo-Gricean accounts (section 7); Searle’s account (section 7); and assertibility of conditionals (section 8).The article is also organized into a main part for the basic material and supplementary parts for more specialized or advanced material. The main part constitutes a self-contained presentation and is sufficient for readers with a general interest in assertion. There are links to supplementary material at the ends of sections and subsections.