Swimmingly

"Jaro Hasek" (alias L. M. Tapper) pointed out to me that 'neustic' is possibly ambiguous. Hare notes that it derives from Liddell/Scott, neuo, to nod consent. But Jaro notes that it can also mean, a swimmer.

"A neuston is a member of the class of all the tiny creatures who swim and bob in proximity to the surface of the sea; and this class is in turn divided into the
epineuston and the hyponeuston. This interpretation is somewhat speculative, although etymologically sound."

1. www.hku.hk/ecology/fieldcourse/streams.html
"A few insects inhabit the water
surface film (= neustic species)."
2. http://www.critica.no.sapo.pt/glossario.html
neustic
3. http://www.ufbir.ifas.ufl.edu/chap20.pdf
University of Florida Book of Insect Records
"neustic aquatic insects are often the only insects to occur".
4. http://www.nasmus.co.za/ENTO/Speleo/DragBr.htm
Dragon's Breath Cave
"Aquatic habitats comprise the Lake with its neustic,
nektic and benthic zones."
5. http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/academic/A-C/aps/level2modules/aps201/
glossary.html -
APS 201 Glossary
NEUSTIC: pertaining to the surface film of water bodies.

Grice was enamoured with the word 'neustic' as he uses it in WoW:RE and Aspects of Reason.

It's very sad that a man who made a career about the importance of
imagination in ethical thinking (Hare) failed to have one in matters semantical.
My only hope is that the ecological use of 'neustic' postdates Hare's. (In
which case it's the Ecologist who's unimaginative or plain word thieves)).

Jaro commented: As I am sure you are aware, the Greek verb PHRAZEIN denotes showing, while NEUSTON on the other hand refers to swimming. while it is true that phrasis refers to saying however that in turn comes from PHRAZEIN the verb."

Hare says (Language of Morals, p.18) that he is relying on Liddell-Scott.
The book. (Incidentally, this Liddell is Alice's father -- of 'Alice in
Wonderland' fame. Apparently, he played the fiddle. Ouch). Liddell and
Scott wrote _A Greek Lexicon_, a big thick book.

Hare says: phrastic is from [he does not care to say where it is from]: "a
Greek word meaning 'to point out or indicate'. So indeed it's closer to
Jaro's SHOWING than to my SAYING. I wonder where I got it was from a verb
meaning, to say. Jaro mentions 'phrasis' and that confuses because a
"phrase" is like something you would say.

As for the neustic, he says it's from "a word meaning 'to nod assent'. In
all honesty, I can't say how this applies to the aquatic superficial
animals (I'm using superficial descriptively, not _illocutionarily_).

Jaro further wrote: "Moreover, the word NEUSTOS, which comes from the verb NEIN (curiously >a verb in Greek but a negatory particle in German) does indeed refer
to swimming, though admittingly I do not know what Professor Hare would have to say about this."

Nothing, most likely. Plus, he is dead.

"Hence in the field of marine biology one speaks of neuston, the class of all the tiny creatures who swim and bob in proximity to the >surface of the sea; and this class is in turn divided into the epineuston and the hyponeuston.

Right. Apparently the classification is: i. neustic
ii. nektic
iii. benthic (as per above)

Interesting point: you refer to the epi-neustic and the hyponeustic (I
guess Prof Hare would have like this fine distinction you are drawing
there). I guess the idea is analogical with "epidermis" and "hypodermis".
All comprising the "dermis" (skin). Although I think you speak of the
"_endo_" dermis rather than the hypodermis, right? -- So the idea is that
both epineustic and hyponeustic are 'neustic'. -- Mind, both Professor
Grice and Professor Hare discuss this. Grice as per below:

Grice writes:

"We shall perhaps be in line with those philosophers who, in
one way or another, have drawn a distinction between 'phrastics' and
'neustics,' philosophers, that is to say, who in representing the structure
of discourse lay a special emphasis on

(a) the content of items of discourse whose
merits or demerits will lie in such features
as correspondence or lack of correspondence
with the world, and
(b) the mode or manner in which such items
are advanced, for example declaratively or
imperatively, or (perhaps one might equally well
say) firmly or tentatively." (_Studies_, p.367)

Note the emphasis: "or perhaps one might equally say firmly or
tentatively".

I propose to apply Jaro's distinction here: "epi-neustic" is
_firmly_ and "hypo-neustic" is tentatively. (hypo meaning "sub-", i.e.
substandard. Hare agrees with Grice there when he discusses what
he calls the insistive versus the non-insistive neustic. One example of the
insistive neustic is, Hare says, the verb, in English, to "insist". Hare
speaks of a 'spectrum' here, which I take the liberty to represent as follows:

HYPO-NEUSTIC < ================ > EPI-NEUSTIC
"suggest" "say" "tell" "insist"
The Continuum of the Neustic.

Thus Hare writes: "We have in English a class of performative verbs which
are apparently devoted to some sort of subscription which can be of
_varying degrees_ of what I shall call 'insistence'. The verb 'I insist' is
ineed one of these. Another verb of this class, but at the _opposite_ end
of the same spectrum, is 'suggest'. In between come some more neutral
expressions like 'I tell you' and 'I say'. 'Insist' expresses very firm and
unyielding subscription." ('Some subatomic particles', p.30)

At this point one may wonder why the need for all this.
Well, it's like this. Hare wants to prove that neustics exist. Having
discovered the tropic (mode-sign) he feared the neustic would no longer be
necessary. Indeed, Grice thinks phrastic-tropic is quite enough for the
purposes of sane pragmatics.

Hare thinks the neustic exists. If, he says, we can prove that there are a
class of verbs (like 'insist' and 'suggest') which indicate subscription
(i.e. are neustics) and _yet_ are neutral with respect to _tropos_ or mode,
then: "this is some support for the view that there is an expressible
operation which can be called subscription" -- I agree.

Jaro comments: "I can't see how you can think that 'swimming' relates to Prof. Hare's observations on the language of ethicity. Vide supra, por favor. Admittingly as I admit this interpretation is >somewhat speculative, although etymologically sound. And thank you very much for your clistic notes, which I will put in a big binder."