Grice on "therefore", "thus", and "so"

-- by J. L. Speranza
--- for the Grice Club.

GRICE IS RIGHT that

"Jack is an Englishman and Jack is brave" is hardly a piece of reasoning. But with the magical word, "therefore", it thus becomes:

"Jack is an Englishman and he is, therefore, brave" (WoW:vi).

This differs from the previous illustration where he used the ";" to indicate two sentences:

"Jack is an Englishman; he is, therefore, brave" ('Logic and Conversation' -- example of 'conventional implicature').

So what's the beef?

Note that Grice lists 'therefore' along with 'moreover' and 'but'. 'But' cannot harmonise with 'and', though. When turned to 'however', it cannot harmonise with 'and' either:

"She was poor; she was, nevertheless, honest" (adapted from Grice's use of the Great War ditty in Grice 1961).

Perhaps we CAN say:

"She was poor, and she was, nevertheless, honest." although it does sound slightly clumsy.

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So, what IS the magic of 'ergo'. Here is Short/Lewis on this rather brief Latin particle.


ergō (rarely with short e).

I. o in Ovid, and the post-Augustan poets, Ovid H. 5, 59 Lennep.; id. Tr. 1, 1, 87; Luc. 9, 256; Val. Fl. 2, 407; Claudius Epistolae 4, 17),

adv.

Etymology:

short for "e-regō", from "ex" and root "rag-", to extend upward. Cf. Greek "ὀρέγω," L. "rego," German "ragen"; v. erga, and Corss. Ausspr. 1, 448 sqq.,

proceeding from or out of.

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USAGE I.

With genitive (placed after it, like causa and gratia),

in consequence of,
on account of,
because of

(ante-classical, but not in Plautus or Terence):

“quojus rei ergo,” Cato R. R. 141, 2:

“hujus rei ergo,” id. ib. § 3; 4; ib. 139;

Tab. Publica ap. Liv. 40, 52 fin.; 41, 28 fin.:

dono militari virtutis ergo donari, S. C. ap. Liv. 25, 7;

so, virtutis ergo,

Lex ap. Cic. Opt. Gen. 7, 19; Sisenn. ap. Non. 107, 16:

ejus victoriae ergo,

Inscr. ap. Nep. Paus. 1, 3:

funeris ergo,

Lex ap. Cic. Leg. 2, 23 fin.; 25 fin.:

“ejus legis ergo,”

Cicero, Att. 3, 23, 2; Quadrig. ap. Gell. 3, 8, 8:

“formidinis ergo,”

Lucretius, 5, 1246:

“illius ergo,” Vergil, A. 6, 670.

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USAGE II. Absol. (for "cujus rei ergo"),

consequently,
accordingly,

---- Grice's choice:

therefore,

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Also:

"then" (classical):

"unus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem: ergo postque magisque viri nunc gloria claret,"

Enn. ap. Cicero de Sen. 4; Lucil. ap. Cic. Fin. 1, 3, 9; Plautus Cist. 1, 1, 74:

“Polemoni et jam ante Aristoteli ea prima visa sunt,
quae paulo ante dixi. Ergo nata est sententia
veterum Academicorum, etc.,”

Cicero Fin. 2, 11, 34:

“Albano non plus animi erat
quam fidei, nec manere ergo, nec
transire aperte ausus, etc.,”

Livy 1, 27;
Vergil, E. 5, 58 et saep.

—The reason or cause sometimes follows with "quia," "quod":

“ergo istoc magis, quia vaniloquus, vapulabis,”

Plautus Am. 1, 1, 222; cf. id. Mil. 4, 6, 18.

—Ante- and postclassical pleonastic:

“ergo igitur,”

Plautus, Trin. 3, 3, 27; and:

“igitur ergo,”

App. M. 1, p. 104 al.

—So in Terence and Livy:

“itaque ergo,” Terence, Eunuch, 2, 3, 25;
Livy 1, 25, 2 Drak.; 3, 31, 5 Gron.; 9, 31 fin.; 39, 25.—


B. Transf.

1. In a logical conclusion,

consequently,

--- Grice's VERY special choice:

therefore:

----

“negat haec filiam me suam esse:
non ergo haec mater mea est,”

Plautus Ep. 4, 2, 20;
Varro Lingua Latina 8, § 47; 48; 49; “59 sq. al.:

nullum dicere causae esse genus amentia est, etc. ...

Relinquitur ergo, ut omnia tria genera sint causarum,”

Cicero Inventio 1, 9 fin.:

“quis est enim, in quo sit
cupiditas, quin recte cupidus dici possit? Ergo
et avarus erit, sed finite,”

id. Fin. 2, 9, 27; 5, 9, 24:

“quis tam esset ferreus
qui eam vitam ferre posset, etc.? Verum
ergo illud est, quod a Tarentino Archyta
dici solitum,”

id. Lael. 23, 88 et saep.;

“corresponding to igitur,” id. ib. 14 fin. and 15 init.;

so consecutively,

igitur ... ergo ... ergo ... igitur ... id. N. D. 2, 21, 56 sq.

—So with "si," "cum," "quia," etc.:

“ergo ego nisi peperissem, Roma non oppugnaretur,”

Livy 2, 40, 8; Plautus Ep. 5, 2, 34; id. Capt. 2, 3, 63; id. Aul. 4, 10, 25.

—So esp. in Cicero, like an (v. an I. D.),
in interrogative argumentation, a minore ad majus, or ex aequo,

"so,"
"so then":

“ergo haec veteranus miles facere poterit, doctus vir sapiensque non poterit?”

Cicero Tusc. 2, 17, 39;

so with the future, id. ib. § 41; 1, 14, 31; 3, 15, 31; id. Off. 1, 31, 114; id. Fin. 2, 33 fin.:

“ergo illi intelligunt, quid Epicurus dicat, ego non intelligo?”

id. ib. 2, 4, 13; cf. id. Arch. 9:

“ergo Ennio licuit vetera contemnenti dicere, etc. ... mihi de antiquis eodem modo non licebit?”

id. Or. 51, 171; cf. id. Arch. 8, 9 fin.—

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2. In interrogations.

---- (i.e. erotetics -- cfr. Grice's section on the interrogative 'mode' in "Aspects of Reason").

a.

When an explanation is asked,

"do you say?" "do you mean?" "then":

S. Quo agis?
P. Quo tu? ...
S. Quo ergo, scelus?

Plautus Pers. 2, 2, 23:

Ipsus es?
Ch. Ipsus Charmides sum.
S. Ergo ipsusne es?

id. Trin. 4, 2, 145; id. Ep. 1, 1, 19; Horace S. 2, 3, 156.—

b. When a consequence is inquired for, Engl. "then":

Ps. lstuc ego jam satis scio.
Si. Cur ergo, quod scis, me rogas?

Plautus Ps. 4, 1, 10:

“ergo in iis adolescentibus bonam
spem esse dicemus, quos? etc.,”

Cicero Fin. 2, 35, 117:

“dedemus ergo Hannibalem? dicet aliquis,”

Livy 21, 10 fin. et saep.:

“num ergo is excaecat nos aut orbat sensibus, si? etc.,”

Cicero Ac. 2, 23, 74; so,

“num ergo,”

Quintilian 10, 1, 5; cf. id. 6, 3, 79:

“quid stamus? quin ergo imus?”

why not then?

Plautus Merc. 3, 3, 21; so,

“quin ergo,”

id. As. 1, 1, 15; 2, 2, 113; id. Merc. 5, 2, 88; id. Mil. 4, 2, 93.—

Esp. freq.,

quid ergo?

like the Greek "τί οὖϝ,"

why then? but why?

quid ergo hanc dubitas colloqui?

Plautus Mil. 4, 2, 17; cf.
Cicero, Fin. 4, 14; Ter. Phorm. 5, 7, 55; Tib. 3, 6, 51:

“quid ergo? hujusne vitae propositio Thyesten levare poterit?”
Cicero Tusc. 3, 18; id. Off. 3, 20, 81; 3, 15, 61; 3, 18, 73; id. Rosc. Am. 1, 2; id. Caecin. 20; id. Mur. 23, 47 et saep.; Caes. B. G. 7, 77, 10 et saep.—


3. With imperatives and words used imperatively, then, now, accordingly:

“dato ergo istum symbolum illi,”

Plautus Ps. 2, 2, 57:

“vide ergo, hanc conclusionem probaturusne sis,”

Cicero Ac. 2, 30, 96:

“desinite ergo,”

Caesar B. C. 3, 19 fin.:

“sequere ergo,”

Plautus As. 2, 4, 83; id. Rud. 1, 2, 94; id. Stich. 5, 2, 20; cf.:

“amplectere ergo,”

id. Curc. 1, 3, 16:

“tace ergo,”

id. Aul. 3, 2, 14; id. Ep. 2, 2, 57:

“dic ergo,”

id. Pers. 2, 2, 57: ausculta ergo, id. ib. 4, 6, 19; id. Cas. 2, 4, 18 et saep.:

“quin tu ergo i modo,”

come now, begone!

id. Merc. 5, 2, 114; cf.:

“quin tu ergo omitte genua,”

id. Rud. 3, 2, 14:

“agedum ergo,” id. ib. 3, 4, 15.

—So with the subj.:

“age eamus ergo, intro ergo abeant,”

Plautus, Cas. 3, 6, 17; id. Mil. 1, 1, 78:

“abeamus ergo intro,”

id. ib. 3, 3, 69:

“ergo des minam,”

id. ib. 5, 27;

Cicero Fin. 5, 8 fin.; id. Brut. 43.

—And with the future:

“ergo, si sapis, mussitabis,”

Plautus, Mil. 2, 5, 66.—


4. Like igitur, in resuming an interrupted train of thought,
"as I was saying";

"I say", "then";

"well then":

“tres viae sunt ad Mutinam, quo
festinat animus, ut, etc. ... Tres ergo
ut dixi viae,”

Cicero Phil. 12, 9, 22; cf. id. Part. 13, 46; id. de Or. 1, 57; id. Top. 19, 73; id. Tusc. 1, 2, 4.

—So

(like "igitur" and "inquam")

after parenthetical sentences,

Cicero, Tusc. 1, 7, 14; id. Fin. 2, 34, 113; id. Fam. 15, 10, 1.

—Less freq. for "inquam" in a mere repetition:

“mihi tuus pater, Pater hujus
ergo, hospes Antidamas fuit,”

Plautus, Poen. 5, 2, 91;

or in beginning a subject with reference to the
expectation of the auditors

(cf. Gr. ἄρα),

"then," "now":

“accipite ergo animis,”

Vergil A. 10, 109; id.
Cir. 29. See Hand Turs. II. pp. 440-467.

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