Shared Content

Introduction to research Topic: Shared Content Speakers, more often than not, succeed in mutual comprehension despite a diversity of beliefs, intentions, interests, goals, audiences, conversational contexts, and perceptual inputs. Not only do we easily un derstand each other despite such differences, we can even share content. We can say or think what you said or thought even though our contexts are radically different. I call this phenomenon inter-contextual communication. In 2005, my co-author, Ernie L epore, and I published a book entitled Insensitive Semantics (Oxford University Press.) One chapter of that book addressed the issue of inter-contextual communication and the reaction to our book has convinced us that we need to write a separate book abou t how various theories in philosophy of language, linguistics and cognitive science can explain inter-contextual communication. This new book has four fairly ambitious goals: a) To make more precise what we mean by (and what could be meant by) "Communic ation is possible despite differences" (or: Inter-contextual communication is possible.) b) Establish that it is an adequacy condition on a theory of communication (a semantic theory, a philosophy of language) that it makes communication possible desp ite differences (i.e. makes inter-contextual communication possible.) c) To show that a wide range of currently influential philosophies of language fail to satisfy this adequacy condition. d) We present a framework that does satisfy it. The central goal of the project is to complete a book, Shared Content, for Oxford University Press, by Fall 2007. As part of completing the book,we plan to write four different papers -- papers that naturally spring out of chapters of the book. As part of the pr oject I plan to supervise one ph.d. student, one post doc., and arrange several conferences at UiO.