Co-Reference De Jure in the Mental File Framework

François Recanati (Institut Jean Nicod)

There is de jure coreference between two singular terms (tokens) in a discourse just in case whoever understands the discourse knows that the two terms corefer if they refer at all. In the mental file framework I am currently developing, this is cashed out by saying that the two terms are associated with the same mental file.

The talk will be devoted to discussing in some detail an objection which (following Kit Fine) Angel Pinillos raised to the mental file account of de jure coreference. According to the objection, it is possible for A and B, and for B and C, to be coreferential de jure, even though A and C are not. But if the relation of  de jure coreference rested on the identity of the mental files respectively associated with each of the terms, it should be transitive, since identity is a transitive relation.