Modeling Descriptive and Deontic Cognition as Two Modes of Relation Between Mind and World. (30th August 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Stovall, Preston
• Is Part Of: Pacific philosophical quarterly. Volume 103:Number 1(2022)
• Page Start: 156
• Page End: 185
• Publication Date: 2021-08-30
• Subjects: Philosophy -- Periodicals; 105
• DOI: 10.1111/papq.12382
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0279-0750

Abstract

Abstract: I use a distinction between single‐minded and indifferent choice attitudes, modeled across maximally determinate plans of action, as a basis for interpreting deontic claims – about what ought, ought not, and may be done – as expressing a mode of relation between mind and world that gives voice to the exercise of practical rationality. At the same time, I use maximally determinate possible worlds to model descriptive claims in order to understand them as involving a mode of relation between mind and world that manifests our theoretical rationality. The result is of interest to both linguists looking for a formal treatment of deontic modality that captures the role prescriptive mental states play in our lives, and philosophers interested in substantive questions about action‐guiding and representational mental states as exercises of practical and theoretical rationality.