Epistemic Modality and Coordination under Uncertainty
Abstract
Communication facilitates coordination, but coordination might fail if there's too much uncertainty. I discuss a scenario in which vagueness-driven uncertainty undermines the possibility of publicly sharing a belief. I then show that asserting an epistemic modal sentence, 'Might p', can reveal the speaker's uncertainty, and that this may improve the chances of coordination despite the lack of a common epistemic ground. This provides a game-theoretic rationale for epistemic modality. The account draws on a standard relational semantics for epistemic modality, Stalnaker's theory of assertion as informative update, and a Bayesian framework for reasoning under uncertainty.
- Publication:
-
arXiv e-prints
- Pub Date:
- June 2021
- DOI:
- 10.48550/arXiv.2106.11507
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2106.11507
- Bibcode:
- 2021arXiv210611507S
- Keywords:
-
- Computer Science - Computer Science and Game Theory
- E-Print:
- In Proceedings TARK 2021, arXiv:2106.10886