We have examined some of the forms that wishing takes on. It is obvious that we do not possess our wishes in internal solitude, as merely private experiences, nor do we express them only by our bodily conduct; we also say that we wish for this or that, and we use the declarative form of the term I as we do so. We will now discuss how declaratives function in the expression of our wishes. In some cases, our wishes become intentions, which in turn stimulate and govern our choices. These choices too can be expressed and appropriated by declaratives. In this chapter we will also study how the first-person pronoun is used in the expression of choice. We can declare our wishes and our choices because they both involve syntactic articulation.

How We Declare Ourselves in Our Wishes

In Chapters 1 and 2 we examined cognitive, emotive, promissory, and existential declaratives, and we mentioned the special kind of declaratives that occur in philosophy. First-person declaratives, which express the agent's engagement in what he articulates, can, obviously, be used in stating our wishes. We say, for example, “I do wish the rain would end,” or “I so wish to play soccer,” or “How I wish I were younger.” We formulate our wishes and declare ourselves as the ones wishing them.