Computational Models Of Beliefs and The Semantics Of Belief-Sentences

Abstract

This paper considers a number of problems in the semantics of belief sentences from the perspective of computational models of the psychology of belief. We present a semantic interpretation for belief sentences and show how this interpretation overcomes some of the difficulties of alternative approaches, especially those based on possible-world semantics. Finally, we argue that these difficulties arise from a mistaken attempt to identify the truth conditions of a sentence with what a competent speaker knows about the meaning of the sentence.