No Puzzle About Belief

ABSTRACT In ‘A Puzzle about Belief’ Kripke holds a simple thesis: ‘the puzzle is a puzzle’ (1979: 125). My main thesis is also a simple one: Kripke's is not a puzzle. It is a positive finding about the limits of the language of indirect discourse in describing the cognitive life of thinkers. In particular, the true report ‘Peter believes that Paderewski has musical talent, and that Paderewski does not have musical talent’ does not distinguish between someone like Peter who is rational but does not realize that there are not two individuals called ‘Paderewski’ and someone like Peter* who realizes that there is only one individual called ‘Paderewski’ but is irrational.