Seminar: Presumptions and Burdens of Proof in Ordinary Argumentation – Lilian Bermejo-Luque (Granada)

Abstract: Presuming that p is not the same as maintaining that presumably p. I argue that, in presuming that p, we make a presumption, whereas in maintaining that presumably p, we draw the conclusion of a presumptive inference. I provide an account of the correctness conditions for presumptions and presumptive inferences by characterizing presumptions as a type of constative speech-act having certain semantic correctness conditions and by dealing with the correctness conditions for the use of an epistemic modal such as “presumably.” Such an epistemic modal is characterized as the force indicator for a speech-act of concluding involving a presumptive inference.