Rules, Maxims, Conventions -- Whatever

--- By J. L. S.

------------- ANOTHER hot topic, or the hot bed of ordinary language philosophy, as Grice says (he was a gardener at heart) was the topic of things like

"You say the truth!"


Are they _conventions_?

Surely not! That was Urmson´s old view in "Probability". "We abide by conventions, such as the one that enjoins we say the truth".

"We need conventions not to burp in table; not to tell the truth" Grice would complain. "Maxims specify the sort of things any decent chap would do" Grice writes.

So, whenever you are in doubt, and

1. you are a chap

2. you are a DECENT one, at that.

3. You feel like.

4. Drop your maxim!


And they are NOT rules. "Rules are cricket rules". "Chess rules". "College rules". Grice says. "Certainly not moral absolutisms like, Say the Truth!".