El martes, 7 de octubre, a las 12.30, en la Sala de Juntas de Filosofía, tuvo lugar la primera sesión del seminario TeC-FiloLab de este curso 2025-2026. Nos acompañó Dario Mortini, investigador del Barcelona Institute of Analytic Philosophy (BIAP).
A continuación tenéis el título y el resumen de su charla, así como una breve nota sobre la trayectoria de Dario.
Title: «On the Epistemic Norm of Hedged Assertion»
Abstract: The question on the epistemic normativity of outright assertion has generated an extensive literature. But speakers do not always assert outright: they often hedge and assert P without fully committing to its truth. Asked whether my colleague is in the building, I might guardedly reply ‘She left an hour ago, I think’. Faced with inconclusive evidence about P, cautious scientists and conscientious jurors likewise hedge with expressions such as ‘P, I believe’ or ‘P, probably’. Yet, despite their ubiquity, the epistemic norms governing hedged assertions have received remarkably little philosophical attention.This talk addresses the gap by extending the popular knowledge norm of assertion to the closely related speech act of hedging. According to my proposed norm, hedged assertion is impermissible when speakers know and permissible when they don’t. Notably, this norm enjoys independently plausible motivations and can also explain a wide range of linguistic data. Since it offers a useful starting point for normative theorising on the neglected speech act of hedged assertion, the proposed norm is overall worthy of serious consideration.
Bio: I am a postdoctoral research fellow at the Barcelona Institute of Analytic Philosophy (BIAP). I am employed in a large research project on the nature and role of evidence. My fellowship is generously supported by a María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence grant. I am also a member of Logos.Before joining BIAP and Logos, I was a postdoc at the University of Southern Denmark (2022-2023). I also held visiting positions at the University of Tilburg (Tilburg Center for Moral Philosophy, Epistemology and Philosophy of Science) and the University of Cologne (CONCEPT). In September 2022 I completed my PhD at the University of Glasgow, where I was a member of COGITO (Epistemology Research Centre). My advisor was Christoph Kelp. My examiners were Ernest Sosa and Mona Simion. I work primarily in epistemology, but I also have interests in philosophy of (evidence) law, philosophy of language, philosophy of science, and experimental philosophy, especially when these areas bear on epistemological issues or raise distinctively epistemological questions. To see my papers, click here. To browse the courses that I (very much) enjoy teaching, see here. Feel free to get in touch at dario.mortini@ub.edu or to follow me on PhilPeople or Bluesky.
