McGinn on Cavell on Grice

Speranza

McGinn, who has referred to Grice's persona in various places -- and parts of Grice's persona, too -- notes:

"Cavell was a highly distinctive presence on the philosophical scene."

"I never met him or even set eyes on him, but I read some of his work, mainly on film and literature."

The locus classicus seems to be "Must we mean what we implicate?" or something.

"It struck me as very interesting, but I found it extremely hard to understand. His mind seemed to work very differently from mine. I wonder if other readers had the same experience."

I guess there is a book for every reader and a reader for every book!

The happy part of this is that Cavell found himself sometimes hard to understand ("That's what makes philosophy pleasurable, as my daughter would disimplicate!")