Prof. Dr. Klaus Hölker (Universität Hannover)

Remarks on Mental Spaces

This talk takes up some topics in semantics and the philosophy of language whose proper treatment within the framework of possible world semantics has been much discussed in recent decades. The topics are the anaphoric use of pronouns, the use of proper names in intensional contexts, and the so-called problem of logical omniscience. The talk will sketch in brief the treatment these subjects have received within the framework of Gilles Fauconnier's theory of mental spaces, i.e. within one direction of cognitive semantics. The principal aim of the talk is to give by way of discussion of these subjects some insight into the foundations of this approach.