Making It Explicit

Making It Explicit is an investigation into the nature of language -- the social practices that distinguish us as rational, logical creatures. Where accounts of the relation between language and mind have traditionally rested on the concept of representation, this book sets out an alternate approach based on inference, and on a conception of certain kinds of implicit assessment that become explicit in language. Making It Explicit is the first attempt to work out in detail a theory that renders linguistic meaning in terms of use -- in short, to explain how semantic content can be conferred on expressions and attitudes that are suitably caught up in social practices.