I want to, but...

Authors

  • Milo Phillips-Brown

Abstract

I want to see the concert, but I don’t want to take the long drive. Both of these desire ascriptions are true, even though I believe I’ll see the concert if and only if I take the drive. Yet they, and strongly conflicting desire ascriptions more generally, are predicted incompatible by the standard semantics, given two standard constraints. There are two proposed solutions. I argue that both face problems because they misunderstand how what we believe influences what we desire. I then sketch my own solution: a coarse-worlds semantics that captures the extent to which belief influences desire. My semantic  models what I call some-things-considered desire. Considering what the concert would be like, but ignoring the drive, I want to see the concert; considering what the drive would be like, but ignoring the concert, I don’t want to take the drive.

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How to Cite

Phillips-Brown, M. (2019). I want to, but. Proceedings of Sinn Und Bedeutung, 21(2), 951–968. Retrieved from https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/sub/index.php/sub/article/view/177