Contextual beliefs about the other person govern how any communicative act is read

Evidence

Within any human society, the context in which a communicative act is offered is critical to its interpretation. This is true for the full range of such acts, from simple conversations to informal and formal contracts: even the most detailed of contracts cannot make explicit everything which must be understood for its interpretation. The beliefs which are held about another person at the time of communication are a significant part of what that context amounts to. Therefore, anything which contributes to a greater sense of knowing the other can contribute to the participants’ belief in the possibility of mutual understanding. — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 705

Categorization

• DEFINE: Precisely defines the role of context and mutual knowledge in grounding the possibility of understanding, which is the theoretical crux of the reader’s Luhmann/Hardin synthesis.