Abstract

In this thesis I investigate the intentional nature of facial expression, with a focus on smiling and laughing. The concept of reference, and the context of communication, figure importantly in this account of human intentionality: I suggest that the specificity of emotional expression in the face may have contributed to the evolution higher-order intentionality in humans by contributing to the means of establishing mutual reference. This view supports the interdependence of cognitive and socio-emotional aspects of human development. I take smiling and laughing as case studies in investigating the connection between intentional objects and expression in human communication. Even more than other expressions, however, smiling and laughing seem outstandingly social. I speculate that this conspicuous sociality derives from the special place of these expressions in the development of face-to-face communication in human evolution