Attitudes and Mental Files in Discourse Representation Theory

I present a concrete DRT-based syntax and semantics for the representation of mental states in the style of Kamp (1990). This system is closely related to Recanati’s (2012) Mental Files framework, but adds a crucial distinction between anchors, the analogues of mental files, and attitudes like belief, desire and imagination. Attitudes are represented as separate compartments that can be referentially dependent on anchors. I show how the added distinctions help defend the useful notion of an acquaintance-based mental file against Ninan’s (Inquiry 58(4):368–377 2015) recent challenge involving counterfactual de re attitudes.