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Linglib.Phenomena.Complementation.Attitudes.IntentionalIdentity.Data

Intentional Identity Data @cite{chatzikyriakidis-etal-2025} #

@cite{geach-1967}

Empirical data for intentional identity — the phenomenon where two attitude reports appear to be "about the same thing" even when that thing may not exist.

The Geach puzzle #

"Hob thinks a witch has blighted Bob's mare, and Nob wonders whether she killed Cob's sow."

The pronoun "she" in Nob's attitude seems to refer to the same witch that Hob's attitude is about — but the witch may not exist. Possible-worlds semantics struggles: the pronoun can't be a regular variable (no accessible referent), and it can't be an E-type pronoun (no unique salient witch across the two agents' belief states).

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structure Phenomena.Complementation.Attitudes.IntentionalIdentity.IntentionalIdentityDatum :
Type

An intentional identity datum: two attitude reports linked by a pronoun or definite description across agents.

  • sentence : String

    The full sentence

  • agent₁ : String

    First agent

  • verb₁ : String

    First attitude verb

  • agent₂ : String

    Second agent

  • verb₂ : String

    Second attitude verb

  • sharedObject : String

    The shared intentional object description

  • nonExistentOk : Bool

    Whether the shared object need not exist

Instances For
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    def Phenomena.Complementation.Attitudes.IntentionalIdentity.instReprIntentionalIdentityDatum.repr :
    IntentionalIdentityDatum → Nat → Std.Format
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    Instances For
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      instance Phenomena.Complementation.Attitudes.IntentionalIdentity.instReprIntentionalIdentityDatum :
      Repr IntentionalIdentityDatum
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      def Phenomena.Complementation.Attitudes.IntentionalIdentity.hobNob :
      IntentionalIdentityDatum

      Geach's original Hob-Nob example. @cite{geach-1967}: "Hob thinks a witch has blighted Bob's mare, and Nob wonders whether she killed Cob's sow."

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        def Phenomena.Complementation.Attitudes.IntentionalIdentity.edelbergSpy :
        IntentionalIdentityDatum

        Edelberg's variant: "Ralph believes someone is a spy, and Ortcutt wonders whether he is dangerous." Same structure: cross-agent pronoun to possibly nonexistent entity.

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          def Phenomena.Complementation.Attitudes.IntentionalIdentity.iiData :
          List IntentionalIdentityDatum

          All intentional identity data.

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            theorem Phenomena.Complementation.Attitudes.IntentionalIdentity.all_nonexistent_ok (d : IntentionalIdentityDatum) :
            d ∈ iiData → d.nonExistentOk = true

            All examples allow the shared object to be nonexistent.