Attitudes De Se and Anaphora: A Presuppositional Account

This paper argues that the de se reading is a composite of the corresponding de re one plus the presupposition that there exists a strong epistemic relation between the object of attitude, linguistically realized as an anaphor, and the attitude-bearer, the referent of the anaphor's antecedent. Close examination of the relation between the attitudes de se and anaphora reveals that the notion de se, as currently understood, should be generalized to explain the choice of anaphors. A taxonomy of anaphors in terms of a general notion like presupposition provides further empirical support for the approach taken here.