This is even a rather natural view: in an ordinary utterance of a sentence of D, the speaker pretends-true the literal content of the sentence, and in so doing she asserts something other than the literal content.
In particular, he says that Ex Falso is unacceptable for the reason that it asserts something about the consequences of something impossible (van Heijenoort 1967, 421).
For instance, when the Stranger says of Theaetetus, who is currently sitting, "Theaetetus is sitting," his statement is true because it asserts something that is the case about Theaetetus; but when he says of Theaetetus (still sitting), "Theaetetus is flying," his statement is false, because "flying" specifies something different from what is the case about Theaetetus (namely, sitting).
David Donald asserts something like the opposite in his biography: "At about the time of Willie's death Lincoln's optimism about military affairs also began to vanish".
By contrast, one who asserts something she does not believe to be true has lied.
A rule-circular argument, by contrast, is an argument of which the conclusion asserts something about an inferential rule that is used in the very same argument.
Avempace enumerates four such non-philosophical arts: Dialectic relies only on opinion and negates or asserts something through methods of general acceptance.
However, although in a sense the act is indirect, since the speaker asserts something different from what she would do on a normal, direct use of the sentence, and relies on the hearer to realize this, it is not an indirect assertion by either definition.
A woman asserts something as clearly as possible.
He cannot simply assert something so damning; he must provide some real evidence or else issue an apology.
