One of the most interesting puzzles in formalizing belief contexts is the fact that many belief reports can be given both an opaque and a transparent reading. A traditional explanation is that the two readings are related to the failure and success of the `principle of substitutivity` respectively, and this in turm is explained with the `de re/de dicto` distinction. We propose an alternative analysis, based on the idea that another agent`s beliefs can just be quoted (preserving opaqueness) or translated into the reporter`s language (allowing transparency). We show that MultiContext systems allow the formalization of these two phenomena at the same time, thanks to their multi-language feature
A Multi Context Approach to Belief Report
Bouquet, Paolo;Ghidini, Chiara
1997-01-01
Abstract
One of the most interesting puzzles in formalizing belief contexts is the fact that many belief reports can be given both an opaque and a transparent reading. A traditional explanation is that the two readings are related to the failure and success of the `principle of substitutivity` respectively, and this in turm is explained with the `de re/de dicto` distinction. We propose an alternative analysis, based on the idea that another agent`s beliefs can just be quoted (preserving opaqueness) or translated into the reporter`s language (allowing transparency). We show that MultiContext systems allow the formalization of these two phenomena at the same time, thanks to their multi-language featureI documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
