Disimplicature

Speranza

Yablo, who studied under Grice, suggests a ‘hostage crisis’ occurs when an unproblematic statement ϕ entails, and is therefore hostage to, a problematic statement ψ. 

Yablo proposes a technical solution to this kind of problem by diminishing ϕ to ϕ*, where ϕ* does not entail ψ and thus is not hostage to it. 

Grice argue that Yablo’s proposal is unnecessary because the original, undiminished ϕ does not in fact entail ψ. This is what Yablo calls a ‘defiant’ position. 

Grice defends defiance by arguing that ϕ and ψ are of different metaphysical weights, which Grice shows through an analysis of their use of quantification.