A Philosopher´s Philosopher If Never There Was One

M. D. B. Platts (Mark de Bretton, that is) was born in London, educated at Oxford, and corrupted in Mexico. When I came across Platt´s review in "Mind" for the PGRICE festschrift (Grandy/Warner) I was already familiar with his all too polite "Ways of Meaning". In his review of Mind, he goes over the top.

He quotes Grice as being "a philosopher´s philosopher, if ever there was one". But there NEVER was one. I was at first enchanted by the descript, and used it in published work of mine. But I´ve learned a lesson by now.

Platts meant it derogatorily!

Allow me to explain.

One reads:

(1) Grice was a philosopher´s philosopher, if ever there was one. And even if there never was one.

The first implicature is

(a) "You, reader, are a clever one; for you ARE a philosopher -- not just the man in the street".

But one reads (1) again, and you find out that the implicature starts to be (b):

(b) Grice was NOT a philosopher. He was a philosopher´s philosopher.

This is a bit like "an absolute ban is no ban", as cited by Kramer in his comment to my "lifelong native". But more serious.

Grice would have HATED to be merely a philosopher´s philosopher. For, first, who IS a philosopher?

Is a philosopher, as Platts suggests, someone full-time employed by an American university? Then, yes, Grice was a philosopher´s philosopher. You don´t see him quoted in Magalasya a lot.

If you mean that his "Way of Words", with the 17-clause definition of "utterer´s occasion-meaning of an utterance-part", is not your average beach red, then, yes, he ain´t no woman-in-the-beach type of philosopher.

But Grice wanted to see his-self as along the UNITY of philosophy, longitudinal:


Socrates
Plato
Aristotle

Kant


Grice


And Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were Philosophers Simpliciter, not "philosopher´s philosophers". Ditto Kant. They are studied in PHIL 101. And PHIL 101 is NOT for philosophers. It´s required course for most things civilised.

Ergo, q. e. d.

On the other hand, Derrida is a philosopher´s philosopher.

JLS