What the Butler Saw -- and Grice read

Dale reminds us in a footnote for his ch. ii of his online thesis, "The theory of meaning"

"Once again, see Schmitz (1985) for the most comprehensive discussion I have found of Welby's influence. Schmitz discusses Welby's relation to many thinkers, among these G. F. Stout, F. C. S. Schiller, and J. Cook Wilson, all Oxford philosophers and all relevant, therefore, to the study of Grice's influences."

Indeed. Grice of course quotes from Wilson. I never understood why Wilson's mother was so obsessed with Wilson having to call hisself (sic) Cook Wilson all the time. ("But then perhaps his father's name was "Cook Wilson"", too).

Wilson was possibly a genius. Like Grice all his books are posthumous. (Why waste your life publishing stuff when someone can do it for you when you go?).

Grice quotes from Wilson, "Statement and inference". I read that. It put me to sleep!

----

But it has a nice fascimile of a portrait of "Cook" Wilson.

Grice always remembered the strong influence "Cook" Wilson had on him. He would say,

"What we know, we know"

which impressed Grice bigly.

Oddly, grammatically, that should be

---- What we know we know
------ Subject -- Predicate



Wilson talked of 'metiers' of logical operators: pis-aller and others. Grice mentions Wilson only in WoW:IV "Indicative Conditionals" vis a vis:

Who killed Cock Robin?
Either the wren or the crow.

etc.

As I say, Grice was onto Prichard, too and called himself a neo-Prichardian. And Prichard cannot be understood, as G. Harman reminds us in PGRICE, ed. Grandy/Warner, without Stout.

Schiller I knew because Gardiner cares to love him in his "Annotated Snark".