Igal Kvart
Professor Emeritus
Department of Philosophy, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Date: November 6, 2025 (Thursday)
Time: 19:00–21:00
Venue: Zhixin Building, Room A1618
Location: Shandong University, Central Campus
Abstract
The verbal act of assertion has often been considered in recent philosophy to have the distinctive feature of presenting the speaker as occupying a higher epistemic position. However, a higher epistemic position is neither required for a proper assertion nor its main characteristic; rather, an appropriate assertion requires a higher degree of steering thrust. Assertion is a pragmatic category, and its main distinctive feature is that a speaker who asserts conveys a stronger degree of steering thrust than a speaker who merely says the same thing.
About the Speaker
Igal Kvart is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. His research interests include philosophy of science, philosophy of language, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of logic, and philosophy of mind.