Al-Khalfa, Atheer2025-10-162025-10-1620252025-06-3010.26199/acu.92058https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14802/6766The essays that comprise this dissertation bring to light several foundational challenges confronting a number of influential meta-semantic theories—those that aim to explain how the contents of utterances and beliefs are determined. In addressing these difficulties, I argue that two strategies offer a promising path forward: (1) examining the beliefs formed upon uttering or hearing a variety of complex sentences, and (2) identifying the contents that maximize knowledge across nearby possibilities. Together, these approaches help illuminate how our mental states and utterances come to represent the world.meta-semanticsknowledge maximisationconventionconfusionDavid LewisTimothy WilliamsonPhD ThesisOpenControlled