Andreas van Cranenburgh 0440949
	Core Logic Research report
	Tikitu de Jager - Now that you mention it, I wonder
		Awareness, attention, assumption

	Summary of dissertation

De Jager's dissertation focusses on the notions of unawareness and inattention
applied to semantics and pragmatics.  When an agent is unaware of p, there is
not only an absence of knowledge, it also doesn't know it doesn't know p.  De
Jager presents formal models that employ possible worlds and make use of a
hitherto neglected notion of assumption to show their influence on an agent's
beliefs. First a static version is presented, according to which beliefs can be
formed within assumptions. Second a dynamic model is presented with update
semantics. These models are then evaluated against a case study of so-called
Sobel sequences, which are sequences of counterfactuals sensitive to order. The
order sensitivity is explained by awareness as raised by the counterfactuals.

	Summary of discussion

Do assumptions have structure?
Yes and no, in the same way that propositions can be said to have and not
have structure. Assumptions are nothing but propositions, which are sets of
possible worlds. Certainly on a cognitive level there is structure, but this
is not touched upon in the models presented.

What about stubborness? Is questioning someone's assumptions always effective?
In this respect the models are idealised. Although becoming aware of an
assumption doesn't mean you always give it up, questioning does make
you aware. In reality, if the assumption is complicated one might give up
figuring out its consequences. Also, a related question might bring awareness
to an assumption, but this is not part of the models presented because it would
require a notion of associations.
 
What about the relation with Wittgenstein?
In the work On Certainty, Wittgenstein responds to a `proof' of Moore that
objects exist. Wittgenstein claims that some certainties aren't knowledge, but
that we are unable to conceptualize their negation. Our deepest convictions
form the structure around which our beliefs can form, as a river bedding
through which a river flows. 

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