When mental states matter

Abstract

In this paper I discuss a common ambiguity in the specification of the content of implicatures either in terms of mental states “BELS(ψ)” or in terms of simple propositions “ψ”. The aim of this paper is to argue for a pluralistic view that acknowledges the coexistence of both specifications as distinct mplicatures. As I argue, both specifications have different functions in communication, and there are conversational situations in which the speaker and hearer are motivated to rely on one or the other selectively. Moreover, I argue that taking the distinction between them seriously a) sheds new light on the debates between the Gricean approach to and the grammatical theory of scalar implicatures, and b) opens new questions regarding the (mutual) derivability of both specifications.