Assertion as a Language-Game: the Role of Linguistic Agency in Social-Epistemic Agency

Wittgenstein, in contrast with a number of recent
epistemologists (e.g., Audi 1998, 130-48; Fricker 1994),
held that hearing another person assert that p may itself
constitute sufficient reason for one to believe that p —
without one"s needing to have positive grounds for one"s
belief that the other person is sincere or reliable. (Cf.
Wittgenstein 1992, §§ 143, 160-1) In this paper I will
argue that Wittgenstein"s position follows immediately from
an understanding of assertion as a language-game
governed by norms binding the rational action of
participant speakers and hearers.