Playing and asserting

Abstract

Is the epistemic norm governing assertion essential to assertion? Is the norm constitutive of the very nature of the speech act? Some say it cannot be so because assertion patterns very differently than playing games when it comes to breaking constitutive rules. You can break the rule of assertion in various ways and still assert, but you cannot break the rules of games in just that way and still assert. We should then conclude that the epistemic rule of assertion merely regulates assertion, so that assertion is not essentially a rule‐governed kind. We show prominent arguments along these lines fall short, based on a better understanding of what it is to play a game. To evaluate arguments about the nature of asserting, one needs to know more about playing games.