Conventional and Non-conventional Presupposition

Presuppositions are very important in our understanding of how background and context determine the interpretation of a sentence. However, if we study some of the things that have been claimed to be presuppositions, we find that it is a very miscellaneous collection of things. Here are some examples: (1) Harry saw the man kiss her presupposes that Harry and the man denote uniquely existing, for the listener, identifiable, individuals and that her denotes a uniquely existing known female anaphoric referent. (2) Harry stopped growing apples presupposes that somebody (Harry) grew apples before. we can see that it should be somebody rather than Harry if we consider the following case. They have always grown apples at the farm. However, when Harry bought it he stopped growing apples. (3) Hegel didn't know that there are seven planets presupposes that there are seven planets. (4) Harry boasted to have kissed Elizabeth presupposes that kissing Elizabeth is evaluated positively. (5) Harry deprived John of the apples presupposes that John's not getting any apples is evaluated negatively. (6) Harry kissed the girl again presupposes that someone kissed the girl before. (7) Harry loves Betty too presupposes that something similar to Harry's loving Betty has occurred in the preceding discourse. (8) Bill was very big presupposes that we have established a universe of comparison for big. (9) Open the door presupposes that the speaker wants the door opened, that the listener is able to open the door and that the door is closed. (10) Unfortunately it's raining presupposes that it in fact is raining. (11) Bill ordered Harry to pick apples presupposes that Bill has higher social status than Harry. (12) Kannst Du die Tür öffnen? presupposes that the speaker has an informal solidarity relationship to the listener.