Evaluating theories on 'de re' presuppositions

Abstract

Presuppositions embedded under attitude predicates are often assumed to project into the belief state of the attitude holder, yielding de dicto interpretations. However, additives such as also and too permit de re construals that escape belief projection, whereas other triggers, such as only, do not. This paper evaluates existing accounts of de re presuppositions and argues that they face two persistent problems: (i) the availability of de re presuppositions is sensitive to the attitude holder’s beliefs, and (ii) it varies systematically across presupposition trigger types. I propose a pragmatic mechanism, the Weak Commitment Assumption, according to which attitude holders are assumed to weakly commit to presupposed content unless explicitly opposed. Combined with trigger-specific partial resolution, this approach explains when and why de re presuppositions are licensed.