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Sunday, April 3, 2011

Why Grice Loved Urmson -- Urmson 'coiner' of "paradigm-case argument" -- its use by Flew to 'free will'

As we see, OED does not credit quotes for 'paradigm-case argument'. In his essay for _Philosophy_, H. Hardie (who was, incidentally, Grice's tutor at Corpus Christi) is clear to reminisce that the first use of 'the argument of the paradigm case' (qua expression) was used by Urmson in "Somce questions concerning validity" (1951, Revue Int. Phil. -- repr. in Flew).

The paradigm case argument, Hardie goes on, was first applied to "free will" by Flew in 1954, "Crime or disease", British Journal of Sociology, and later in 1955, "Philosophy and language" -- Philosophical Quarterly:

This is a quote from "Philosophy and Language":

Flew:

"Since the meaning of "of his own free will"
can be taught by reference to such
paradigm cases as such in which a man,
under no social pressures, marries
the girl he wants to marry (how else
could it be taught?): it cannot be right,
on any grounds whatsoever, to say
that no one ever acts on his own
free will" ("Philosophy and Language"
Philosophical Quarterly, 1951).

As for a quote from Hardie, "My own free will", Philosophy 1967, vol. 32:

"The words “free will” have uses in ordinary talk as in “free will offering” and, most commonly, in the expression “of my (your, etc.) own free will.” We all know what states of affairs make this expression applicable, and its standard use is defined by this application. Yet philosophers discuss, or used to discuss, whether the will is free, libertarians saying that it is and determinists denying this. Are they, or were they, asking whether anyone ever acts of his own free will? If so, the question asked was absurd."
---
"From the fact that 'of his own free will'
has a standard use, and therefore
an application, it follows that it is
trivial to assert and absurd to deny
that men will freely, that the will
is free."

-------- Hardie of course did not belong to the 'school of ordinary language philosophy' but wasn't he concerned (in a good sense) of this 'revolution' in the corridors of his beloved university?

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