Dimitrios Kourtis, Pierre Jacob, Natalie Sebanz, Dan Sperber, and Günther Knoblich (2020) Making sense of human interaction benefits from communicative cues Scientific Reports, 18135.

Abstract: We investigated whether communicative cues help observers to make sense of human interaction. We recorded EEG from an observer monitoring two individuals who were occasionally communicating with each other via either mutual eye contact and/or pointing gestures, and then jointly attending to the same object or attending to different objects that were placed on a table in front of them. The analyses were focussed on the processing of the interaction outcome (i.e. presence or absence of joint attention) and showed that its interpretation is a two-stage process, as reflected in the N300 and the N400 potentials…

Dan Sperber (2019) Personal notes on a shared trajectory (Reflections on the development of relevance theory). In Kate Scott, Kate, Billy Clark, and Robyn Carston, eds. Relevance, pragmatics and interpretation. Cambridge University Press, 2019. pp 13-20

“The editors of the volume asked me to provide a broad overview of the beginnings of relevance theory back in the 1970s, how it has developed over the decades and where I see it moving in the future, reflecting in the process on the collective work that Deirdre Wilson and I initiated and that has been joined and considerably enriched by many others. Here are some personal notes to help address these questions…”

Hugo Mercier, Dan Sperber (2019) Reply to critics Teorema 38(1)

Replies to four commentaries on The Enigma of Reason (by Salvador Mascarenhas, Ira Noveck, Cathal O’Madagain, and Karolina Prochownik) published in Teorema

Olivier Mascaro, Olivier Morin, Dan Sperber (2017) Optimistic expectations about communication explain children’s difficulties in hiding, lying, and mistrusting liars. Journal of Child Language 44(5), 1041-1064.

Abstract: We suggest that preschoolers’ frequent obliviousness to the risks and opportunities of deception comes from a trusting stance supporting verbal communication

Jérôme Prado, Nicola Spotorno, Eric Koun, Emily Hewitt, Jean-Baptiste Van der Henst, Dan Sperber, Ira Noveck (2015) Neural interaction between logical reasoning and pragmatic processing in narrative discourse. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 27(4), 692-704.

 Abstract: Logical connectives (e.g., or , if, and not) are central to everyday conversation, and the inferences they generate are made with little effort in pragmatically sound situations. In contrast, the neural substrates of logical inference-making have been studied exclusively in abstract tasks where pragmatic concerns are minimal. Here, we used fMRI in an innovative design that employed narratives to investigate the interaction between logical reasoning and pragmatic processing in natural discourse.

Dan Sperber, Deirdre Wilson (2015) Beyond speaker’s meaning. Croatian Journal of Philosophy XV(44), 117-149.

Abstract: Our main aim is to show that constructing an adequate theory of communication involves going beyond Grice’s notion of speaker’s meaning. We argue that the characterisation of ostensive communication introduced in relevance theory can provide a conceptually unified explanation of a much wider range of communicative acts than Grice was concerned with, including cases of both ‘showing that’ and ‘telling that’, and with both determinate and indeterminate import.

Dan Sperber (2013) Speakers are honest because hearers are vigilant: Reply to Kourken Michaelian. Episteme 10(1), 61-71.

Abstract: In “The evolution of testimony: Receiver vigilance, speaker honesty, and the reliability of communication”, Kourken Michaelian questions the basic tenets of our article “Epistemic vigilance” (Sperber et al. 2010). Here I defend against Michaelian’s criticisms the view that epistemic vigilance plays a major role in explaining the evolutionary stability of communication and that the honesty of speakers and the reliability of their testimony are, to a large extent, an effect of hearers’ vigilance.

Dan Sperber & Nicolas Baumard (2012) Moral reputation: An evolutionary and cognitive perspective. Mind & Language 27(5), 485-518.

Abstract: From an evolutionary point of view, the function of moral behaviour may be to secure a good reputation as a co-operator.  The best way to do so may be to obey genuine moral motivations. Still, one’s moral reputation maybe something too important to be entrusted just to one’s moral sense. A robust concern for one’s reputation is likely to have evolved too. Here we explore some of the complex relationships between morality and reputation both from an evolutionary and a cognitive point of view.

Dan Sperber & Hugo Mercier (2012) Reasoning as a social competence. In H. Landemore & J. Elster (eds.), Collective Wisdom: Principles and Mechanisms (Cambridge University Press), 368-392.

“…We argue that the function of reasoning is primarily social and that it is the individual benefits that are side-effects. The function of reasoning is to produce arguments in order to convince others and to evaluate arguments others use in order to convince us. We will show how this view of reasoning as a form of social competence correctly predicts both good and bad performance in the individual and in the collective case, and helps explain a variety of psychological and sociological phenomena…”

Deirdre Wilson & Dan Sperber (2012) Explaining irony. In D. Wilson & D. Sperber, Meaning and Relevance. (Cambridge University Press), 123-145.

A new essay on irony, chapter 6 in Deirdre Wilson and Dan Sperber (2012) Meaning and Relevance, pp. 123-145.
[Preface and Table of contents]

Hugo Mercier & Dan Sperber (2012) “Two heads are better” stands to reason. Science (Letter) 336, 979.

Short commentary on Asher Koriat (2012): When Are Two Heads Better than One and Why? Science 336, 360.

Hugo Mercier & Dan Sperber (2011) Why do humans reason? Arguments for an argumentative theory. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 34(2), 94-111.

Abstract: Reasoning is generally seen as a mean to improve knowledge and make better decisions. Much evidence, however, shows that reasoning often leads to epistemic distortions and poor decisions. This suggests rethinking the function of reasoning. Our hypothesis is that the function of reasoning is argumentative. It is to devise and evaluate arguments intended to persuade. Reasoning so conceived is adaptive given human exceptional dependence on communication and vulnerability to misinformation. A wide range of evidence in the psychology or reasoning and decision making can be reinterpreted and better explained in the light of this hypothesis.

Dan Sperber (2010) The Guru Effect. Review of Philosophy and Psychology 1(4), 583-592.

Abstract: Obscurity of expression is considered a flaw. Not so, however, in the speech or writing of intellectual gurus. All too often, what readers do is judge profound what they have failed to grasp. Here I try to explain this “ guru effect ” by looking at the psychology of trust and interpretation, at the role of authority and argumentation, and at the effects of these dispositions and processes when they operate at a population level where, I argue, a runaway phenomenon of overappreciation may take place.

Dan Sperber, Fabrice Clément, Christophe Heintz, Olivier Mascaro, Hugo Mercier, Gloria Origgi, Deirdre Wilson (2010) Epistemic vigilance. Mind & Language 25(4), 359-393.

Abstract: Humans depend massively on communication with others, but this leaves them open to the risk of being accidentally or intentionally misinformed. We claim that humans have a suite of cognitive mechanisms for epistemic vigilance to ensure that communication remains advantageous despite this risk. Here we outline this claim and consider some of the ways in which epistemic vigilance works in mental and social life by surveying issues, research and theories in different domains of philosophy, linguistics, cognitive psychology and the social sciences.

Hugo Mercier & Dan Sperber (2009) Intuitive and reflective inferences. In J. St. B. T. Evans & K. Frankish (eds.), In two minds: Dual processes and beyond. (Oxford University Press)

Our goal here is to propose in the same spirit a principled distinction between two types of inferences: ‗intuitive inference‘ and ‗reflective inference‘ (or reasoning proper). We ground this
distinction in a massively modular view of the human mind where metarepresentational modules play an important role in explaining the peculiarities of human psychological evolution. We defend the hypothesis that the main function of reflective inference is to produce and evaluate arguments occurring in interpersonal communication (rather than to help individual ratiocination). This function, we claim, helps explain important aspects of reasoning. We review some of the existing evidence and argue that it gives support to this approach.
Inferential processes

Abstract: We propose a principled distinction between two types of inferences: ‘intuitive inference’ and ‘reflective inference’ (or reasoning proper). We ground this distinction in a massively modular view of the human mind where metarepresentational modules play an important role in explaining the peculiarities of human psychological evolution. We defend the hypothesis that the main function of reflective inference is to produce and evaluate arguments occurring in interpersonal communication (rather than to help individual ratiocination). This function, we claim, helps explain important aspects of reasoning. We review some of the existing evidence and argue that it gives support to this approach.

Olivier Mascaro & Dan Sperber (2009) The moral, epistemic, and mindreading components of children’s vigilance towards deception. Cognition 112, 367-380.

Abstract: Vigilance towards deception is investigated in 3- to-5-year-old children: (i) In study 1, children as young as 3 years of age prefer the testimony of a benevolent rather than of a malevolent communicator. (ii) In study 2, only at the age of four do children show understanding of the falsity of a lie uttered by a communicator described as a liar. (iii) In study 3, the ability to recognize a lie when the communicator is described as intending to deceive the child emerges around four and improves throughout the fifth and sixth year of life. On the basis of this evidence, we suggest that preference for the testimony of a benevolent communicator, understanding of the epistemic aspects of deception, and understanding of its intentional aspects are three functionally and developmentally distinct components of epistemic vigilance.

Dan Sperber (2009) Culturally transmitted misbeliefs (Commentary on Ryan T. McKay & Daniel C. Dennett, “The evolution of misbelief”). Behavioral and Brain Sciences 32, 534-535.

Abstract: Most human beliefs are acquired through communication, and so are most misbeliefs. Just like the misbeliefs discussed by McKay & Dennett (M&D), culturally transmitted misbeliefs tend to result from limitations rather than malfunctions of the mechanisms that produce them, and few if any can be argued to be adaptations. However, the mechanisms involved, the contents, and the hypothetical adaptive value tend to be specific to the cultural case.

Dan Sperber (2009) L’effet gourou. L’autre côté 1, 17-23.

(Traduction française par Nicolas Pain de “The Guru effect”, inédit de 2005.)
“Une énonciation obscure est considérée comme défectueuse. Tel n’est pas le cas pour les discours et les écrits des gourous intellectuels. Le problème n’est pas que des lecteurs manquant de compétence s’abstiennent, à raison, de porter un jugement sur ce qu’ils ne comprennent pas ; mais que trop souvent ces lecteurs jugent profond ce qui leur échappe. L’obscurité inspire le respect… Je voudrais expliquer ici cet « effet-gourou »…”

Dan Sperber & Deirdre Wilson (2008) A deflationary account of metaphors. In R. Gibbs (ed.), Handbook of Metaphor and Thought. (Cambridge University Press), 84-105.

Abstract: On the relevance-theoretic approach outlined in this paper, linguistic metaphors are not a natural kind, and “metaphor” is not a theoretically important notion in the study of verbal communication. Metaphorical interpretations are arrived at in exactly the same way as literal, loose and hyperbolic interpretations: there is no mechanism specific to metaphors, and no interesting generalisation that applies only to them. In this paper, we defend this approach in detail by showing how the same inferential procedure applies to utterances at both ends of the literal-loose-metaphorical continuum, and how both literal and metaphorical utterances may create poetic effects

Coralie Chevallier, Ira Noveck, Lewis Bott, Valentina Lanzetti, Tatiana Nazir, Dan Sperber (2008) Making disjunctions exclusive. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 61(11), 1741-1760.

Abstract: This work examines how people interpret the sentential connective “or”, which can be viewed either inclusively (A or B or both) or exclusively (A or B but not both). Drawing on prior work concerning quantifiers (Noveck, 2001; Noveck & Posada, 2003; Bott & Noveck, 2004) and following a relevance-theoretic line of argument, we hypothesized that conditions encouraging more processing effort would give rise to more pragmatic inferences and hence to more exclusive interpretations of the disjunction. This prediction was confirmed in three experiments.

Dan Sperber (2007) Rudiments of cognitive rhetoric. Rhetoric Society Quarterly 37(4), 361-400.

First English translation of : Dan Sperber (1975) Rudiments de rhétorique cognitive, Poétique: Revue de Théorie et d’Analyse Littéraire (23) 389-415. Deirdre Wilson’s book Presuppositions and non-truth conditional semantics (1975) and this paper were the starting points of our collaboration in developing relevance theory. [PDF version]

Dan Sperber (2007) Le témoignage et l’argumentation dans une perspective évolutionniste. Raisons Pratiques 17

Version française de: An evolutionary perspective on testimony and argumentation. Philosophical Topics 29, 401-413. (2001)

Ira Noveck & Dan Sperber (2007) The why and how of experimental pragmatics: The case of ‘scalar inferences’. In N. Burton-Roberts (ed.), Advances in Pragmatics. (Palgrave)

“Although a few pioneers in psycholinguistics had, for more than twenty years, approached various pragmatic issues experimentally, it is only in the past few years that investigators have begun employing the experimental method in testing pragmatic hypotheses (see Noveck & Sperber 2004). We see this emergence of a proper experimental pragmatics as an important advance with a great potential for further development. In this chapter we want to illustrate what can be done with experimental approaches to pragmatic issues by presenting one case, that of so-called ‘scalar inferences’, where the experimental method has helped sharpen a theoretical debate and has provided uniquely relevant evidence…” [PDF version]

Dan Sperber & Gloria Origgi (2005) Pourquoi parler, comment comprendre? In J-M. Hombert, (ed.) L’origine de l’homme, du langage et des langues. (Fayard), 236-253.

“…Une nouvelle branche de la linguistique, la pragmatique, s’est développé au cours des dernières décennies. Elle étudie la compréhension des énoncés en contexte. Qui adopte une perspective pragmatique est amené à concevoir les énoncés non tant comme des moyens qu’utilise le locuteur pour transmettre au moyen de sons le sens qu’il veut communiquer, mais plutôt comme des indices riches et complexes que le locuteur fourni à l’auditeur afin de lui permettre de reconstruire le sens voulu… Nous nous interrogerons ici sur les conséquences de la perspective pragmatique pour l’étude de l’évolution du langage…”

Dan Sperber & Deirdre Wilson (2005) Pragmatics. In F. Jackson & M. Smith (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Language. (Oxford University Press)

” …pragmatics contrasts with semantics, the study of linguistic meaning, and is the study of how contextual factors interact with linguistic meaning in the interpretation of utterances. Here we will briefly highlight a range of closely related, fairly central pragmatic issues and approaches that have been of interest to linguists and philosophers of language in the past thirty years or so. Pragmatics, as we will describe it, is an empirical science, but one with philosophical origins and philosophical import.”

Jean-Baptiste Van der Henst & Dan Sperber (2004) Testing the cognitive and communicative principles of relevance. In I. Noveck & D. Sperber (eds.), Experimental Pragmatics, (Palgrave)

The studies reported in this chapter test predictions directly inspired by central tenets of relevance theory and, in particular, by the cognitive and the communicative principles of relevance.

Dan Sperber & Ira Noveck (2004) Introduction. In I. Noveck & D. Sperber (eds.), Experimental Pragmatics, (Palgrave)

This volume lays down the bases for a new field, Experimental Pragmatics, that draws on pragmatics, psycholinguistics and also on the psychology of reasoning. [PDF version]

Deirdre Wilson & Dan Sperber (2004) Relevance Theory. In L. R. Horn & G. Ward (eds.), The Handbook of Pragmatics. (Blackwell), 607-632.

We outline the main assumptions of the current version of the theory and discuss some of its implications for pragmatics [PDF version]

Dan Sperber & Vittorio Girotto (2003) Does the selection task detect cheater-detection? In J. Fitness & K. Sterelny (eds.), New directions in evolutionary psychology. Macquarie Monographs in Cognitive Science (Psychology Press)

We begin, with a short presentation of Cosmides’s social contract hypothesis, of Wason selection task, and of Cosmides’s reasons to use the task in order to test the theory. In a second section, we present the relevance-theoretic analysis of the selection task proposed by Sperber, Cara and Girotto (1995) which cast doubts on the appropriateness of the task to study reasoning. In a third section, we present Fiddick, Cosmides and Tooby’s (2000) defense of the use of the selection task as a tool to test evolutionary theories of reasoning, and argue that it is methodologically flawed. In a fourth section, we present three experiments designed to test contrasting predictions deriving from the two approaches. In the conclusion, we come back to Cosmides’s hypothesis and reflect on how it might be really tested…”

Dan Sperber & Vittorio Girotto (2002) Use or misuse of the selection task? Rejoinder to Fiddick, Cosmides, and Tooby. Cognition 85, 277-290.

Abstract: Sperber, Cara, and Girotto (1995) argued that, in Wason’s selection task, relevance-guided comprehension processes tend to determine participants’ performance and pre-empt the use of other inferential capacities. Because of this, the value of the selection task as a tool for studying human inference has been grossly overestimated. Fiddick, Cosmides, and Tooby (2000) argued against Sperber et al. that specialized inferential mechanisms, in particular the “social contract algorithm” hypothesized by Cosmides (1989), pre-empt more general comprehension abilities, making the selection task a useful tool after all. We rebut this argument. We argue and illustrate with two new experiments, that Fiddick et al. mix the true Wason selection task with a trivially simple categorization task superficially similar to the Wason task, yielding methodologically flawed evidence. We conclude that the extensive use of various kinds of selection tasks in the psychology of reasoning has been quite counter-productive and should be discontinued.

Jean-Baptiste Van der Henst, Laura Carles, Dan Sperber (2002) Truthfulness and relevance in telling the time. Mind and Language 17, 457-466.

Abstract: Someone asked ‘What time is it?’ when her watch reads 3:08 is likely to answer ‘It is 3:10.’ We argue that a fundamental factor that explains such rounding is a psychological disposition to give an answer that, while not necessarily strictly truthful or accurate, is an optimally relevant one (in the sense of relevance theory) i.e. an answer from which hearers can derive the consequences they care about with minimal effort. A rounded answer is easier to process and may carry the same consequences as one that is accurate to the minute. Hence rounding is often a way of optimising relevance. Three simple experiments give support and greater precision to the view that relevance is more important than strict truthfulness in verbal communication.

Deirdre Wilson & Dan Sperber (2002) Truthfulness and relevance. Mind 111 583.

Abstract: This paper questions the widespread view that verbal communication is governed by a maxim, norm or convention of literal truthfulness. Pragmatic frameworks based on this view must explain the common occurrence and acceptability of metaphor, hyperbole and loose talk. We argue against existing explanations of these phenomena and provide and alternative account, based on the assumption that verbal communication is governed not by expectations of truthfulness but by expectations of relevance, which are raised by literal, loose and metaphorical talk alike. Sample analyses are provided, and some consequences of this alternative account are explored.

Dan Sperber & Deirdre Wilson (2002) Pragmatics, modularity and mind-reading. Mind and Language 17, 3-23.

Abstract:  The central problem for pragmatics is that sentence meaning vastly underdetermines speaker’s meaning. The goal of pragmatics is to explain how the gap between sentence meaning and speaker’s meaning is bridged. This paper defends the broadly Gricean view that pragmatic interpretation is ultimately an exercise in mind-reading, involving the inferential attribution of intentions. We argue, however, that the interpretation process does not simply consist in applying general mind-reading abilities to a particular (communicative) domain. Rather, it involves a dedicated comprehension module, with its own special principles and mechanisms. We show how such a metacommunicative module might have evolved, and what principles and mechanisms it might contain.

Dan Sperber (2002) Il futuro della scrittura. Convegno virtuale “text-e”

Contributo al convegno virtuale text-e, 2002, il primo convegno interamente virtuale dedicato all’impatto di Internet sul testo scritto, la lettura e la diffusione della conoscenza. Il convegno si è svolto dal 15 ottobre 2001 a fine marzo 2002. Su text-e troverete le dieci conferenze invitate e i dibattiti archiviati che hanno seguito ogni conferenza.

Dan Sperber (2002) L’avenir de l’écriture. Colloque virtuel “text-e”

Texte écrit en anglais, français et italien pour le colloque virtuel text-e, organisé par l’Association Euro-Edu, la Bibliothèque Publique d’Information du Centre Pompidou  et la Société GiantChair, colloque consacré à explorer l’impact de l’Internet sur la lecture, l’écriture et la diffusion du savoir. Le colloque s’est déroulé du 15 octobre 2001 jusqu’à fin mars 2002; les débats peuvent être consultés sur le site du colloque ou dans Text-e: Le texte à l’heure de l’Internet, Gloria Origgi & Noga Arikha eds., 2003 Paris: Bibliothèque Publique d’Information.

Dan Sperber (2002) The future of writing. Virtual symposium “text-e”

Text written in English, French and Italian for the virtual symposium text-e, organised by the Association Euro-Edu, the Bibliothèque Publique d’Information du Centre Pompidou and the Société GiantChair on the impact of the Web on reading, writing and the diffusion of knowledge. The symposium took place from October 15th 2001 until the end of March 2002. The debates can be read on the site of the symposium.

Jean-Baptiste Van Der Henst, Dan Sperber, Guy Politzer (2002) When is a conclusion worth deriving? A relevance-based analysis of indeterminate relational problems. Thinking & Reasoning 8(1), 1-20.

Abstract : When is a conclusion worth deriving? We claim that a conclusion is worth deriving to the extent that it is relevant in the sense of relevance theory (Sperber & Wilson, 1995). To support this hypothesis, we experiment with “indeterminate relational problems” where we ask participants what, if anything, follows from premises such as A is taller than B, A is taller than C. With such problems, the indeterminate response that nothing follows is common, and we explain why. We distinguish several types of determinate conclusions and show that their rate is a function of their relevance. We argue that by appropriately changing the formulation of the premises, the relevance of determinate conclusions can be increased, and the rate of indeterminate responses thereby reduced. We contrast these relevance-based predictions with predictions based on linguistic congruence. [PDF version]

Dan Sperber (2001) An evolutionary perspective on testimony and argumentation. Philosophical Topics 29, 401-413.

“…A significant proportion of socially acquired beliefs are likely to be false beliefs, and this not just as a result of the malfunctioning, but also of the proper functioning of social communication…” [PDF version]

Vittorio Girotto, Markus Kemmelmeier, Dan Sperber, Jean-Baptiste Van der Henst (2001) Inept reasoners or pragmatic virtuosos? Relevance and the deontic selection task. Cognition 81, 69-76.

Abstract: Most individuals fail the selection task, selecting P and Q cases, when they have to test descriptive rules of the form ªIf P, then Qº. But they solve it, selecting P and not-Q cases, when they have to test deontic rules of the form ªIf P, then must Qº. According to relevance theory, linguistic comprehension processes determine intuitions of relevance that, in turn, determine case selections in both descriptive and deontic problems. We tested the relevance theory predictions in a within-participants experiment. The results showed that the same rule, regardless of whether it is tested descriptively or deontically, can be made to yield more P and Q selections or more P and not-Q selections. We conclude that the selection task does not provide a tool to test general claims about human reasoning.

Dan Sperber (2000) Metarepresentations in an evolutionary perspective. In D. Sperber (ed.), Metarepresentations: A Multidisciplinary Perspective. (Oxford University Press), 117-137.

“Just as bats are unique in their ability to use echolocation, so are humans unique in their ability to use metarepresentations. Other primates may have some rather rudimentary metarepresentational capacities. We humans are massive users of metarepresentations, and of quite complex ones at that…”

Dan Sperber (2000) Introduction. In D. Sperber (ed.), Metarepresentations. (Oxford University Press), 3-13.

Gloria Origgi & Dan Sperber (2000) Evolution, communication, and the proper function of language. In P. Carruthers & A. Chamberlain (eds.), Evolution and the Human Mind: Language, Modularity and Social Cognition. (Cambridge University Press), 140-169.

“Language is both a biological and a cultural phenomenon. Our aim here is to discuss, in an evolutionary perspective, the articulation of these two aspects of language. For this, we draw on the general conceptual framework developed by Ruth Millikan (1984) while at the same time dissociating ourselves from her view of language…” [PDF version]

Dan Sperber (2000) La communication et le sens. In Y. Michaud (ed.), Qu’est-ce que l’humain? Université de tous les savoirs, volume 2. (Odile Jacob), 119-128.

“…La facilité avec laquelle nous communiquons peut nous dissimuler le problème d’explication que pose cette facilité même…”

Dan Sperber (1999) Pour un utopisme raisonné. In R-P. Droit & D. Sperber, Des Idées qui viennent (Odile Jacob), 169-187.

Roger-Pol Droit et moi avons publié en 1999 une discussion philosophique et politique entre nous en six parties, chacune introduite par un cour essai de l’un ou de l’autre. Voici le troisième de mes trois essais.

Dan Sperber (1999) Voir autrement la culture. In R-P. Droit & D. Sperber, Des Idées qui viennent (Odile Jacob), 91-105.

Roger-Pol Droit et moi avons publié en 1999 une discussion philosophique et politique entre nous en six parties, chacune introduite par un cour essai de l’un ou de l’autre. Voici le second de mes trois essais.

Dan Sperber (1999) Naturaliser l’esprit. In R-P. Droit & D. Sperber, Des Idées qui viennent (Odile Jacob), 11-24.

Roger-Pol Droit et moi avons publié en 1999 une discussion philosophique et politique entre nous en six parties, chacune introduite par un cour essai de l’un ou de l’autre. Voici le premier de mes trois essais.

Dan Sperber & Deirdre Wilson (1998) Irony and relevance: A reply to Drs Seto, Hamamoto and Yamanashi. In R. Carston & S. Uchida (eds.), Relevance theory: Applications and implications (John Benjamins), 283-293.

“…In this brief reply, we will look at three main issues. First, is verbal irony necessarily echoic? Should a category of non-echoic irony be recognised, as Drs Seto and Hamamoto propose? Second, is there a clear-cut boundary between ironical and non-ironical utterances, or are there borderline cases, as Dr Yamanashi suggets? Third, can the relevance-theoretic account of irony shed light on a range of more complex cases, including those discussed by Dr Hamamoto? We will end with some more general reflections on whether irony is a natural kind…” [PDF version]

Deirdre Wilson & Dan Sperber (1998) Pragmatics and time. In R. Carston & S. Uchida (eds.), Relevance theory: Applications and implications (John Benjamins), 1-22.

We sketch an inferential account of unencoded causal and temporal components of utterance interpretation as in: “John dropped the glass and it broke.” [PDF version]

Dan Sperber & Deirdre Wilson (1998) The mapping between the mental and the public lexicon. In P. Carruthers & J. Boucher (eds.), Thought and language (Cambridge University Press) 184-200.

“…given the inferential nature of comprehension, the words in a language can be used to convey not only the concepts they encode, but also indefinitely many other related concepts to which they might point in a given context. We see this not as a mere theoretical possibility, but as a universal practice, suggesting that there are many times more concepts in our minds than words in our language…” [PDF version]

Dan Sperber & Deirdre Wilson (1997) Remarks on relevance theory and the social sciences. Multilingua 16, 145-51.

“Some commentators have described the relevance-theoretic approach to communication as psychological rather than sociological. Often, this is intended as a criticism. We would like to respond by reflecting in very general terms about possible interactions between relevance theory and research programmes in the social sciences…” [PDF version]

Dan Sperber & Deirdre Wilson (1996) Fodor’s Frame Problem and Relevance Theory: reply to Chiappe & Kukla. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 19(3) 530-532.

“…Since it cannot have foreknowledge of relevance, how can the mind have, at least, non-arbitrary expectations of relevance?…” [PDF version]

Dan Sperber (1995) How do we communicate? In J. Brockman & K. Matson (eds.), How things are: A science toolkit for the mind (Morrow), 191-199.

“…The old ‘we-communicate-thanks-to-an-common-language’ story is clever and simple. It would make a great explanation if only it were true….” [PDF version]

Dan Sperber & Deirdre Wilson (1995) Postface. In Relevance: Communication and Cognition, Second Edition (Blackwell), 255-280.

Dan Sperber (1994) Understanding verbal understanding. In J. Khalfa (ed.), What is Intelligence? (Cambridge University Press), 179-198.

“…Full-fledged communicative competence involves, for the speaker, being capable of having at least third-order meta-representational communicative intentions, and, for the hearer, being capable of making at least fourth-order meta-representational attributions of such communicative intentions. … This does not imply that communicators are conscious of the complexity of their mental representations. What it does imply is that every tier of these representations may play a role in inference…” [PDF version]

Deirdre Wilson & Dan Sperber (1993) Linguistic form and relevance. Lingua 90, 1-25.

“…An utterance can thus be expected to encode two basic types of information: representational and computational, or conceptual and procedural – that is, information about the representations to be manipulated, and information about how to manipulate them…”

Dan Sperber & Deirdre Wilson (1990) Rhetoric and relevance. In D. Wellbery & J. Bender (eds.), The Ends of Rhetoric: History, Theory , Practice (Stanford University Press), 140-155.

“…If relevance theory is right, then it offers a solution to the rhetorician’s dilemma, a way of being precise about vagueness, of making literal claims about metaphors and ironies, without abandoning any of the Romantics’ intuitions. However, rhetoricians could not adopt this solution without jeopardizing the very foundations of rhetoric. For what this solution implies is that metaphor and irony are ordinary exploitations of basic processes of verbal communication, rather than devices based on codified departures from the ordinary use of language. Moreover metaphor and irony exploit quite different basic processes and are more closely related, the former to loose talk, the latter to a variety of echoic uses, than to one another. The very notion of a trope is better dispensed with. If so, then rhetoric has no subject matter to study, or to teach…”  [PDF version]

Dan Sperber (1990) The evolution of the language faculty: A paradox and its solution. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 13(4), 756-758.

Deirdre Wilson & Dan Sperber (1988) Mood and the Analysis of non-declarative sentences. In J. Dancy, J.Moravcsik & C. Taylor (eds.), Human agency: Language, duty and value (Stanford University Press), 77-101.

“How are non-declarative sentences understood? How do they differ semantically from their declarative counterparts? Answers to these questions once made direct appeal to the notion of illocutionary force. When they proved unsatisfactory, the fault was diagnosed as a failure to distinguish properly between mood and force…”

Dan Sperber & Deirdre Wilson (1987) Précis of Relevance Communication and Cognition, Behavioral and Brain Sciences 10, 697-754, with Commentaries and our response: Presumptions of relevance, Behavioral and Brain Sciences 10, 736-754.

 Abstract: In Relevance: Communication and Cognition, we outline a new approach to the study of human communication, one based on a general view of human cognition. Attention and thought processes, we argue, automatically turn toward information that seems relevant: that is, capable of yielding cognitive effects – the more, and the more economically, the greater the relevance. We analyse both the nature of cognitive effects and the inferential processes by which they are derived. …

Deirdre Wilson & Dan Sperber (1986) On defining relevance. In R. Grandy & R. Warner (eds.), Philosophical grounds of rationality (Oxford University Press), 243-258.

Dan Sperber & Deirdre Wilson (1986) Loose talk. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society New Series LXXXVI, 153-171.

Dan Sperber (1984) Verbal Irony: Pretense or Echoic Mention?. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 113(1), 130-136.

According to the mention theory of irony put forward by Sperber and Wilson and tested by Jorgensen, Miller, and Sperber, verbal ironies are implicit echoic mentions of meaning  conveying a derogatory attitude to the meaning mentioned. In their criticisms, Clark and Gerrig misrepresent mention theory. The pretense theory, which they offer as  a superior alternative, might provide a plausible description of parody, but it fails to account  for many types and many properties of irony proper.

Julia Jorgensen, George Miller, Dan Sperber (1984) Test of the Mention Theory of Irony. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 113(1), 112-120.

The traditional theory of irony, which assumes that an ironist uses a figurative meaning opposite to the literal meaning of the utterance, is shown to be inadequate; an alternative theory is presented, which assumes that the ironist mentions the literal meaning of the utterance and expresses an attitude toward it. Although the implications for understanding irony are difficult to test, the two theories do make testable predictions about the conditions under which irony is perceived: The mention theory requires antecedent material for the ironist to mention, whereas the standard theory does not. A reading comprehension test was conducted involving anecdotes that satisfied the traditional criterion for irony but could include or omit antecedents for echoic mention. Results favored the mention theory of irony.

Dan Sperber & Deirdre Wilson (1982) Mutual knowledge and relevance in theories of comprehension. In N. Smith (ed.), Mutual Knowledge (Academic Press), 61-131.

Dan Sperber & Deirdre Wilson (1981) Irony and the Use-Mention Distinction. In Peter Cole (ed.), Radical Pragmatics, 295-318.

The first account in English of our theory of verbal irony as echoic mention.

Deirdre Wilson & Dan Sperber (1981) Pragmatics. Cognition X(1-3), 281-286.

Deirdre Wilson & Dan Sperber (1981/1979) On Grice’s theory of conversation. In P. Werth (ed.), Conversation and discourse (Croom Helm), 155-178.

Deirdre Wilson & Dan Sperber (1979) Ordered entailments: an alternative to presuppositional theories. In Choon-Kyu Oh & D. A. Dineen (eds.), Syntax and semantics 11: Presuppositions (Academic Press), 299-323.

Dan Sperber (1975) Rethinking Symbolism. Cambridge University Press.

Here is the whole book that had been out of print for a while.