Grice’s
Dictionary
H.
P. Grice, St. John’s Oxford
Compiled
by Grice’s Playgroup, The Bodleian
“a” Grice knows that his problem with Strawson is the Square of
Opposition. So he is well aware of the question about Barbara and Celarent. So
there should be entries for “E,” “I,” and “O,” too. The square is generated by
overlapping the two categories -- of ‘quantity’ into two: universalis and
particularis, and the category of quality into two: the dedicativa and the
abdicative. This gives A: universalis dedicativa, E, universalis abdicativa, I:
particularis dedicativa, and O: particularis abdicativa.
∀: (∀x) – rendered by Grice as “all.”. Grice thinks that Whitehead
and Russell did perfectly well with their substitutional account to ‘all,’
“even it that displeased my tutee P. F. Strawson.” Parsons,
who Grice admires, suggests that one treat quantification over predicative
classes substitutionally, and capture “the idea that classes are not“real”
independently of the expression forthem. Grice perceives a difficulty relating to the allegedly dubious admissibility
of propositions as entities. A perfectly sound, though perhaps somewhat
superficial, reply to the objection as it is presented would be that in any
definition of “Emissor E communicates that p” iff “Emissor E desires that p.”
which Grice would be willing to countenance,
'p' operates simply as a ‘gap sign.’ ‘p’ does appear in the analysandum,
and re-appears in the corresponding analysans. If Grice were to advance the not
wholly plausible thesis that “to feel Byzantine” is just to have a an
anti-rylean agitation which is caused by the thought that Grice is or might
*be* Byzantine, it would surely be ridiculous to criticize Grice on the grounds
that Grice saddles himself with an ontological commitment to feelings, or to
modes of feeling. And why? Well, because, alla Parsons, if a quantifier is
covertly involved at all, it will only be a universal quantifier which in such
a case as this is more than adequately handled by a substitutional account of
quantification. Grice’s situation vis-a-vis the ‘proposition’ is in no way
different. There should be an entry for the inverted E, the first entry under
the E.
abderites: Grice was something of a logical atomist, so he used to
refer to himself as a neo-Abderite. The reference being to Democritus and
Leucippus, from Abdera.
abdicativa. While one can draw a skull communicating that there is
danger; one can then cross out the skull indicating that there is no danger. So
the emissor communicates that there is no danger. Or rather, the emissor
communicates that it is not the case that there is danger. Since this involves
a ‘that’-clause, it is not unreasonable to speak of a ‘propositio,’ and such
would be ‘abdicativa.’ In his earliest reflections on the topic, Grice draws on
sub-perceptual illustrations rendered more or less as involving two items of
‘propositio dedicativa’ and their negation and privation: ‘The bell tolls in
Gb” and “The pillar box is red.” For the latter, “The pillar box is not blue”
can be uttered as a conclusion (“If the pillar box is red, it is not the case
that the pillar box is blue.”). For the former case, “The bell tolls in Ab” may
do. “If the bell tolls in Gb, it is not the case that the bell tolls in Ab.”
For Grice, the métier of a propositio abidcativa has to do with the abdicatum
of a conjunctum. For a more primitive rationale, Grice does not see the
complete justification. That means that Grice sees that there are OPTIONS TO
introducing a ‘propositio abdicativa’. These options are of two kinds. One is
the ‘stroke.’ If you draw a skull, a stroke, and a skull, you communicate that
it is not the case there is danger. The other involves “other than” or
“incompatible.” Again, drawsing a skull and writing INCOMPATIBLE and drawing
another skull and you communicate that it is not the case that there is danger.
abdicatum: Apuleius makes an analogy that Grice (and the Grecians
before) finds interesting. It is the ‘propositio dedicative’ apophatike’/’propositio
abdicativa’ kataphatike distinction. The ‘abdicatum’ would be the ‘negatum.’ The
‘dedicatum’ would be the ‘affirmatum.’ Apuleius’s terms make the correlation
evident and Grice preferred it to that of ‘affirmatum’ and ‘negatum,’ – “where
the correlation is not that obvious.” So there is the abdicatum, the negatum,
and the negation. ‘Negatum’ and ‘affirmatum’ are actually used when translating
Husserl from the vernacular! For Husserl, Negation negation a noetic modification of
a positing, noematic cancellation every ‘negatum’
an Object posited as existing, reiterated negation; a ‘negatum’ not a
determination produced by reflection; non-being equivalent to being validly
negated. Grice’s interest in ‘not’ as a
unary functor is central. Grice was ablet to tutor Strawson in philosophy in
that famous term. In his “Introduction to logical theory,” Strawson alleges to
show that some logical
‘laws,’ taken together, show that any truth-functional sentence or formula in
which the main constant is “~ “ is the contradictory of the sentence or formula
which results from omitting that sign.” Strawson goes on to say: “A standard
and primary use of “not” in a sentence is to assert the contradictory of the
statement which would be made by the use, in the same context, of the same
sentence without “not.” Of course we must not suppose that the insertion of
“not” anywhere in any sentence always has this effect. “Some bulls are not
dangerous” is not the contradictory of “Some bulls are dangerous.” This is why
the identification of “~” with “it is not the case that” is to be preferred to
its identification with “not” simpliciter. This identification, then, involves
only those minimum departures from the logic of ordinary language which must
always result from the formal logician's activity of codifying rules with the
help of verbal patterns : viz., (i) the adoption of a rigid rule when ordinary
language permits variations and deviations from the standard use (cf. rules “
~(p Λ ~p)”
and “ ~~p ≡ p” and the discussions in
1-8, and 2-9); (ii) that stretching of the sense of ‘exemplify’ which allows,
us, e.g., to regard ‘Tom is not mad’ as well as ‘Not all bulls are dangerous’
as 'exemplifications’ of not-p.’”
Strawson goes on: “So we shall call ‘~’ the negation sign, and read ‘~’as
‘not.’ One might be tempted to suppose that declaring formulae “ ~(p Λ ~p)” and “p v ~p”
laws of the system was the same as saying that, as regards this system, a
statement cannot be both true and false and must be either true or false. But
it is not. The rules that “ ~(p Λ ~p)” and “p v ~p”
are analytic are not rules about ‘true’ and ‘false;’ they are rules about ‘~.;
They say that, given that a statement has one of the two truth-values, then it
is logically impossible for both that statement and the corresponding statement
of the form ‘ ~p’ to be true, and for
both that statement and the corresponding statement of the form ‘~p’ to be
false.” A bit of palæo-Griceian history is
in order. Sheffer, defines ‘not’ and negation in terms of incompatibility in ‘A
set of five independent postulates for Boolean algebras, with application to
logical constants,’ Trans. American Mathematical Society. Grice does refers to
‘the strokes.’ His use of the plural is interesting as a nod to Peirce’s minute
logic in his ‘Boolian [sic] algebra with one constant.’ There is indeed
Peirce’s stroke, or ampheck (↓), Sheffer’s stroke (|, /, ↑), and and Quine’s
stroke (†, strictly Quine’s dagger). Some philosophers prefer to refer to
Peirces Stroke as Peirce’s arrow, or strictly stressed double-edged sword. His
editors disambiguate his ampheck, distinguishing between the dyadic
functor or connective equivalent to Sheffer’s stroke and ‘nor.’ While
Whitehead, Russell, and Witters love Sheffer’s stroke, Hilbert does not: ‘‘p/p’
ist dann gleichbedeutend mit ‘X̄.’ Grice explores primitiveness. It is
possible, to some extent, to qualify this or that device in terms of
primitiveness. As regards ‘not,’ if a communication-system did not contain a
unitary negative device, there would be many things that communicators can now
communicate that they would be then unable to communicate. He has two
important caveats. That would be the case unless, first, the
communication-system contained some very artificial-seeming connective like one
or other of the strokes, and, second, communicators put themselves to a good
deal of trouble, as Plato does in ‘The Sophist’ with ‘diaphoron,’ that Wiggins
symbolises with ‘Δ,’ to find, more or less case by case, complicated forms
of expression, not necessarily featuring a connective, but involving such
expressions as ‘other than’or ‘incompatible with.’ Grice further refers to
Aristotle’s ‘apophasis’ in De Int.17a25. Grice, always lured by the
potentiality of a joint philosophical endeavour, treasures his collaboration
with Strawson that is followed by one with Austin on Cat. and De Int. So what
does Aristotle say in De Int.? Surely Aristotle could have started by referring
to Plato’s Parmenides, aptly analysed by Wiggins. Since Aristotle is more of a
don than a poet, he has to give ‘not’ a name: ‘ἀπόφασις ἐστιν ἀπόφανσίς τινος
ἀπό τινος,’a predication of one thing away from another,
i.e. negation of it. This is Grice’s reflection, in a
verificationist vein, of two types of this or that negative utterance. His
immediate trigger is Ryle’s contribution on a symposium on Bradley’s idea of an
internal relation, where Grice appeals to Peirce’s incompatibility. ‘The
proposition ‘This is red’ is imcompatible with the proposition, ‘This is not
coloured.’ While he uses a souly verb or predicate for one of them, Grice will
go back to the primacy of ‘potching’ at a later stage. A P potches that the
obble is not fang, but feng. It is convenient to introduce this or that
soul-state, ψ, sensing that …, or perceiving that … Grice works mainly
with two scenarios, both involved with the first-person singular pronoun ‘I’
with which he is obsessed. Grice’s first scenario concerns a proposition that
implies another proposition featuring ‘someone, viz. I,’ the first-person
singular pronoun as subject, a sensory modal verb, and an object, the
proposition, it is not the case that ‘the α is φ1.’
The denotatum of the first-person pronoun perceives that a thing displays this
or the visual sense-datum of a colour, and the corresponding sensory modal
predicate. Via a reductive (but not reductionist) analysis, we get that, by
uttering ‘It is not the case that I see that the pillar box is blue,’ the
utterer U means, i. e. m-intends his addressee A to believe, U he sees that the
pillar box is red. U’s source, reason, ground, knowledge, or belief, upon which
he bases his uttering his utterance is U’s *indirect* mediated actual
experience, belief, or knowledge, linked to a sense-datum φ2 (red)
other than φ1 (blue). Grice’s second scenario concerns a proposition
explicitly featuring the first-person singular pronoun, an introspection,
involving an auditory sense-datum of a noise. Via reductive (but not
reductionist) analysis, we get that, by uttering ‘It is not the case that I
hear that the bell tolls in Gb,’ U means that he lacks the experience of
hearing that the bell tolls simpliciter. U’s source, reason, ground, knowledge,
or belief, upon which he bases his uttering his utterance is the *direct*
unmediated felt absence, or absentia, or privatio or privation, or apophasis,
verified by introspection, of the co-relative ψ, which
Grice links to the absence of the experience, belief, or knowledge, of the
sense-datum, the apophasis of the experience, which is thereby negated. In
either case, Grice’s analysans do not feature ‘not.’ Grice turns back to
the topic in seminars later at Oxford in connection with Strawson’s cursory
treatment of ‘not’ in “Logical Theory.”‘Not’ (and ~.) is the first pair, qua
unary satisfactory-value-functor (unlike this or that dyadic co-ordinate, and,
or, or the dyadic sub-ordinate if) in Grice’s list of this or that vernacular
counterpart attached to this or that formal device. Cf. ‘Smith has not ceased
from eating iron,’ in ‘Causal theory.’ In the fourth James lecture, Grice
explores a role for negation along the lines of Wilson’s Statement and Inference.’
Grice’s ‘Vacuous Names’ contains Gentzen-type syntactic inference rules for
both ‘not’’s introduction (+, ~) and the elimination (-, ~) and the correlative
value assignation. Note that there are correlative rules for Peirce’s arrow.
Grice’s motivation is to qualify ‘not’ with a subscript scope-indicating device
on ~ for a tricky case like ‘The climber of Mt. Everest on hands and knees is
not to atttend the party in his honour.’ The logical form becomes qualified: ‘~2(Marmaduke
Bloggs is coming)1’, or ‘~2(Pegasus flies)1.’
generic formula is ~2p1, which indicates that p is
introduced prior to ~. In the earlier James lectures he used the square bracket
device. The generic formula being ‘~[p],’ where [p] reads that p is assigned
common-ground status. Cancelling the implicata may be trickier. ‘It is not the
case that I hear that the bell tolls because it is under reparation.’ ‘That is
not blue; it’s an optical illusion.’ Cf. Grice on ‘It is an illusion. What is
it?’ Cf. The king of France is not bald because there is no king of France. In
Presupposition, the fourth Urbana lecture, Grice uses square brackets for the
subscript scope indicating device. ‘Do not arrest [the intruder]!,’ the device
meant to assign common-ground status. In ‘Method” Grice plays with the
internalisation of a pre-theoretical concept of not within the scope of ‘ψ.’
In the Kant lectures on “Aspects,” Grice explores ‘not’ within the scope of
this or that mode operator, as in the buletic utterance, ‘Do not arrest the
intruder!’ Is that internal narrow scope, ‘!~p,’ or external wide scope, ‘~!p’?
Grice also touches on this or that mixed-mode utterance, and in connection with
the minor problem of presupposition within the scope of an operator other than
the indicative-mode operator. ‘Smith has not ceased from eating iron, because
Smith does not exist ‒ cf. Hamlet sees that his father is on the rampants, but
the sight is not reciprocated ‒ Macbeth sees that Banquo is near him, but his
vision is not reciprocated. Grice is having in mind Hare’s defense of a
non-doxastic utterance. In his commentary in PGRICE, Grice expands on this
metaphysical construction routine of Humeian projection with the pre-intuitive
concept of ‘not,’ specifying the
different stages the intuitive concept undergoes until it becomes
fully rationally recostructed, as something like a Fregeian sense. In the
centerpiece lecture of the William James set, Grice explores Wilson’s Statement
and inference to assign a métier to ‘not,’ and succeeds in finding one. The
conversational métier of ‘not’ is explained in terms of the conversational
implicatum. By uttering ‘Smith has not been to prison yet,’ U implies that some
utterer has, somewhere, sometime, expressed an opinion to the contrary. This is
connected by Grice with the ability a rational creature has to possess to
survive. The creature has to be able, as Sheffer notes, to deny this or that.
Grices notable case is the negation of a conjunction. So it may well be that
the most rational role for ‘not’ is not primary in that it is realised once
less primitive operators are introduced. Is there a strict conceptual
distinction, as Grice suggests, between negation and privation? If privation
involves or presupposes negation, one might appeal to something like Modified
Occam’s Razor (M. O. R.), do not multiply negations beyond necessity. In his
choice of examples, Grice seems to be implicating negation for an empirically
verifiable, observational utterance, such as U does not see that the pillar box
is blue not because U does not exist, but on the basis of U’s experiencing,
knowing, believing and indeed seeing that the pillar box is red. This is a
negation, proper, or simpliciter (even if it involves a sense-datum phi2
incompatible with sense-datum phi1. Privation, on the other hand, would be
involved in an utterance arrived via introspection, such as U does not hear
that the bell is ringing on the basis of his knowing that he is aware of the
absence, simpliciter, of an experience to that effect. Aristotle, or some later
Aristotelian, may have made the same distinction, within apophasis between
negation or negatio and privation or privatio. Or not. Of course, Grice is
ultimately looking for the rationale behind the conversational implicatum in
terms of a principle of conversational helpfulness underlying his picture of
conversation as rational co-operation. To use his Pological jargon in Method,
in Pirotese and Griceish There is the P1, who potches that the obble
is not fang, but feng. P1 utters p explicitly conveying that p.
P2 alternatively feels like negating that. By uttering ~p, P2 explicitly
conveys that ~p. P1 volunteers to P2, ~p, explicitly
conveying that ~p. Not raining! Or No bull. You are safe. Surely a rational
creature should be capable to deny this or that, as Grice puts it in Indicative
conditionals. Interestingly, Grice does not consider, as Gazdar does, under
Palmer), he other possible unitary functors (three in a standard binary
assignation of values) – just negation, which reverses the satisfactory-value
of the radix or neustic. In terms of systematics, thus, it is convenient
to regard Grices view on negation and privation as his outlook on the operators
as this or that procedure by the utterer that endows him with this or that
basic expressive, operative power. In this case, the expressive power is
specifically related to his proficiency with not. The proficiency is co-related
with this or that device in general, whose vernacular expression will bear a
formal counterpart. Many of Grices comments addressed to this more general
topic of this or that satisfactoriness-preserving operator apply to not, and thus
raise the question about the explicitum or explicatum of not. A Griceian should
not be confused. The fact that Grice does not explicitly mention not or
negation when exploring the concept of a generic formal device does not mean
that what he says about formal device may not be particularised to apply to not
or negation. His big concession is that Whitehead and Russell (and Peano before
them) are right about the explicitum or explicatum of not being ~, even if
Grice follows Hilbert and Ackermann in dismissing Peirces arrow for pragmatic
reasons. This is what Grice calls the identity thesis to oppose to Strawsons
divergence thesis between not and ~. More formally, by uttering Not-p, U
explicitly conveys that ~p. Any divergence is explained via the implicatum. A
not utterance is horribly uninformative, and not each of them is of
philosophical interest. Grice joked with Bradley and Searles The man in the
next table is not lighting the cigarette with a twenty-dollar bill, the
denotatum of the Subjects being a Texas oilman in his country club. The odd
implicatum is usually to the effect that someone thought otherwise. In terms of
Cook Wilson, the role of not has more to do with the expressive power of a
rational creature to deny a molecular or composite utterance such as p and q
Grice comments that in the case of or, the not may be addressed,
conversationally, to the utterability of the disjunction. His example involves
the logical form Not (p or q). It is not the case that Wilson or Heath will be
prime minister. Theres always hope for Nabarro or Thorpe. The
utterer is, at the level of the implicatum, not now contradicting what his
co-conversationalist has utterered. The utterer is certainly not denying that
Wilson will be Prime Minister. It is, rather, that the utterer U wishes not to
assert or state, say, what his co-conversant has asserted, but, instead, to
substitute a different statement or claim which the utterer U regards as
preferable under the circumstances. Grice calls this substitutive disagreement.
This was a long-standing interest of Grices: an earlier manuscript reads Wilson
or MacMillan will be prime minister. Let us take a closer look at the way
Grice initially rephrases his two scenarios involving not as attached to an
auditory and a visual sense datum. I do not hear that the bell is ringing is
rationally justified by the absence or absentia of the experience of hearing
it. I do not see that the pillar box is blue is rationally justified by U’s sensing
that the pillar box is red. The latter depends on Kant’s concept of the
synthetic a priori with which Grice tests with his childrens playmates. Can a
sweater be red and green all over? No stripes allowed! Can a pillar box be blue
and red all over? Cf. Ryles’ssymposium on negation with Mabbott, for the
Aristotelian Society, a source for Grices reflexion. Ryle later discussing
Bradleys internal relations, reflects that that the proposition, ‘This pillar
box is only red’ is incompatible with ‘This pillar box is only blue.’ As
bearing this or that conversational implicata, Grices two scenarios can be
re-phrased, unhelpfully, as I am unhearing a noise and That
is unred. The apparently unhelpful point bears however some
importance. It shows that negation and not are not co-extensive. The variants
also demonstrate that the implicatum, qua conversational, rather than
conventional, is non-detachable. Not is hardly primtive pure Anglo-Saxon. It is
the rather convoluted abbreviation of ne-aught. Its ne that counts as the
proper, pure, amorphous Anglo-Saxon negation, as in a member of parliament (if
not a horse) uttering nay. Grices view of conversation as rational
co-operation, as displayed in this or that conversational implicatum
necessitates that the implicatum is never attached to this or that expression.
Here the favoured, but not exclusive expression, is not, since Strawson uses
it. But the vernacular provides a wealth of expressive ways to be negative!
Grice possibly chose negation not because, as with this or that nihilistic
philosopher, such as Schopenhauer, or indeed Parmenides, he finds the concept a
key one. But one may well say that this is the Schopenhauerian or the
Parmenidesian in Griceian. Grice is approaching not in linguistic, empiricist,
or conceptual key. He is applying the new Oxonian methodology: the reductive
analysis alla Russell in terms of logical construction. Grices implies priority
is with by uttering x, by which U explicitly conveys that ~p, U implicitly
conveys that q. The essay thus elaborates on this implicated q. For the record,
nihilism was coined by philosopher Jacobi, while the more primitive
negatio and privatio is each a time-honoured item in the philosophical lexicon,
with which mediaeval this or that speculative grammarian is especially obsessed.
Negatio translates the ‘apophasis’ of Aristotle, and has a pretty pedigreed
history. The philosophical lexicon has nĕgātĭo, f. negare, which L and S,
unhelpfully, render as a denying, denial, negation, Cicero, Sull. 13, 39:
negatio inficiatioque facti, id. Part. 29, 102. L and S go on to add that
negatio is predicated of to the expression that denies, a negative. Grice would
say that L and S should realise that its the utterer who denies. The source L
and S give is ADogm. Plat. 3, p. 32, 38. As for Grices other
word, there is “prīvātĭo,” f. privare, which again unhelpfully, L and
S render as a taking away, privation of a thing. doloris, Cic. Fin.
1, 11, 37, and 38, or pain-free, as Grice might prefer, cf.
zero-tolerance. L and S also cite: 2, 9, 28: culpæ, Gell. 2, 6,
10. The negatio-privatio distinction is attested in Grecian, indeed the
distinction requires its own entry. For it is Boethius who first renders
Aristotle’s ‘hexis’ into ‘habitus’ and Aristotle’s steresis’ into ‘privatio.’
So the the Grecians were never just happy with “ἀπόφασις (A)” and they had to
keep multiplying negations beyond necessity. The noun is from “ἀπόφημι.” Now L
and S unhepfully render the noun as as denial, negation, adding “oκατάφασις,” for
which they cites from The Sophista by Plato (263e), to give then the
definition “ἀπόφασις ἐστιν ἀπόφανσίς τινος ἀπό τινος,” a
predication of one thing away from another,
i.e. negation of it, for which they provide the source that Grice is
relying. on: Arist. Int.17a25, cf. APo. 72a14; ἀπόφασις τινός,
negation, exclusion of a thing, Pl. Cra. 426d; δύο ἀ. μίαν κατάφασιν
ἀποτελοῦσι Luc. Gall.11. If he was not the first to explore
philosophically negation, Grice may be regarded as a philosopher who most
explored negation as occurring in a that-clause followed by a propositional
complexus that contains ~, and as applied to a personal agent, in a lower
branch of philosophical psychology. It is also the basis for his linguistic
botany. He seems to be trying to help other philosopher not to fall in the trap
of thinking that not has a special sense. The utterer means that ~p. In what
ways is that to be interpreted? Grice confessed to never
been impressed by Ayer. The crudities and dogmatisms seemed too pervasive.
Is Grice being an empiricist and a verificationist? Let us go back to This is
not red and I am not hearing a noise. Grices suggestion is that the
incompatible fact offering a solution to this problem is the fact that the
utterer of Someone, viz. I, does not hear that the bell tolls is indicating
(and informing) that U merely entertains the positive (affirmative)
proposition, Someone, viz. I, hears that the bell tolls, without having an
attitude of certainty towards it. More generally, Grice is proposing, like
Bradley and indeed Bosanquet, who Grice otherwise regards as a minor
philosopher, a more basic Subjects-predicate utterance. The α is
not β. The utterer states I do not know that α is β if and
only if every present mental or souly process, of mine, has some characteristic
incompatible with the knowledge that α is β. One
may propose a doxastic weaker version, replacing the dogmatic Oxonian know
with believe. Grices view of compatibility is an application of the
Sheffer stroke that Grice will later use in accounts of not. ~p iff p|p or ~p ≡df p|p. But
then, as Grice points out, Sheffer is hardly Griceian. If Pirotese did not
contain a unitary negative device, there would be many things that a P should
be able to express that the P should be unable to express unless Pirotese
contained some very artificially-looking dyadic functor like one or other of
the strokes, or the P put himself to a good deal of trouble to find, more or
less case by case, complicated forms of expression, as Platos Parmenides does,
involving such expressions as other than, or incompatible with. V. Wiggins on
Platos Parmenides in a Griceian key. Such a complicate form of expression would
infringe the principle of conversational helpfulness, notably in its
desideratum of conversational clarity, or conversational perspicuity [sic],
where the sic is Grices seeing that unsensitive Oxonians sometimes mistake
perspicuity for the allegedly, cognate perspicacity (L. perspicacitas, like
perspicuitas, from perspicere). Grice finds the unitary brevity of not-p
attractive. Then theres the pretty Griceian idea of the pregnant proposition.
Im not hearing a nose is pregnant, as Occam has it, with I am hearing a
noise. A scholastic and mediæval philosopher loves to be figurative.
Grices main proposal may be seen as drawing on this or that
verificationist assumption by Ayer, who actually has a later essay on not
falsely connecting it with falsity. Grices proposed better analysis would
please Ayer, had Grice been brought on the right side of the tracks, since it
can be Subjectsed to a process of verification, on the understanding
that either perception through the senses (It is red) or
introspection (Every present mental or souly process of mine ) is each an
empirical phenomenon. But there are subtleties to be drawn. At Oxford, Grices
view on negation will influence philosophers like Wiggins, and in a negative
way, Cohen, who raises the Griceian topic of the occurrence of negation in
embedded clauses, found by Grice to be crucial for the rational genitorial
justification of not as a refutation of the composite p and q), and motivating
Walker with a reply (itself countered by Cohen ‒ Can the
conversationalist hypothesis be defended?). So problems are not absent, as they
should not! Grice re-read Peirces definition or reductive analysis of not and
enjoyed it! Peirce discovers the logical connective Grice calls the
Sheffer Stroke, as well as the related connective nor (also called Joint
Denial, and quite appropriately Peirces Arrow, with other Namess in use being
Quines Arrow or Quines Dagger and today usually symbolized by “/”). The
relevant manuscript, numbered MS 378 in a subsequent edition and titled A
Boolian [sic] Algebra with One Constant, MS 378, was actually destined for
discarding and was salvaged for posterity A fragmentary text by Peirce also
shows familiarity with the remarkable meta-logical characteristics that make a
single function functionally complete, and this is also the case with Peirces
unfinished Minute Logic: these texts are published posthumously. Peirce
designates the two truth functions, nand and nor, by using the
symbol “” which he called ampheck, coining this neologism from the
Grecian ἀμφήκης, of equal length in both directions. Peirces editors
disambiguate the use of symbols by assigning “” to the connective we
call Sheffers troke while preserving the symbol / for
nor. In MS 378, A Boolian Algebra with One Constant, by Peirce,
tagged “to be discarded” at the Department of Philosophy at Harvard, Peirce
reduces the number of logical operators to one constant. Peirce states that his
notation uses the minimum number of different signs and shows for the first
time the possibility of writing both universal and particular propositions with
but one copula. Peirce’s notation is later termed Sheffers stroke, and is also
well-known as the nand operation, in Peirce’s terms the operation by which two
propositions written in a pair are considered to be both denied. In the same
manuscript, Peirce also discovers what is the expressive completeness of ‘nor,’
indeed today rightly recognized as the Peirce arrow. Like Sheffer, of
Cornell, independently does later (only to be dismissed by Hilbert and
Ackermann), Peirce understands that these two connectives can be used to reduce
all mathematically definable connectives (also called primitives and constants)
of propositional logic. This means that all definable connectives of
propositional logic can be defined by using only Sheffers stroke or nor as the
single connective. No other connective (or associated function) that takes one
or two variables as inputs has this property. Standard, two-valued
propositional logic has no unary functions that have the remarkable property of
functional completeness. At first blush, availability of this option ensures
that economy of resources can be obtained—at least in terms of how many functions
or connectives are to be included as undefined. Unfortunately, as Grice,
following Hilbert and Ackermann realise, there is a trade-off between this
philosophical semantic gain in economy of symbolic resources and the
pragmatically unwieldy length and rather counterintuitive, to use Grices
phrase, appearance of the formulas that use only the one connective. It
is characteristic of his logical genius, however, and emblematic of his rather
under-appreciated, surely not by Grice, contributions to the development of
semiotics that Peirce grasps the significance of functional completeness and
figure out what truth functions — up to arity 2 — are functionally complete for
two-valued propositional logic, never mind helping the philosopher to provide a
reductive analysis of negation that Grice is looking for. Strictly, this is the
property of weak functional completeness, given that we disregard whether
constants or zero-ary functions like 1 or 0 can be defined. Peirce subscribes
to a semeiotic view, popular in the Old World with Ogden and Welby, and later
Grice, according to which the fundamental nature and proper tasks of the
formal study of communication are defined by the rules set down for the
construction and manipulation of symbolic resources. A proliferation of symbols
for the various connectives that are admitted into the signature of a logical
system suffers from a serious defect on this view. The symbolic grammar fails
to match or represent the logical fact of interdefinability of the connectives,
and reductive analysis of all to one. Peirce is willing sometimes to accept
constructing a formal signature for two-valued propositional logic by using the
two-members set of connectives, which is minimally functionally complete. This
means that these two connectives — or, if we are to stick to an approach that
emphasizes the notational character of logical analysis, these two symbols —are
adequate expressively. Every mathematically definable connective of the logic
can be defined by using only these two. And the set is minimally functionally
complete in that neither of these connectives can be defined by the other (so,
as we say, they are both independent relative to each other.) The
symbol can be viewed as representing a constant truth function
(either unary or binary) that returns the truth value 0 for any input or
inputs. Or it can be regarded as a constant, which means that it is a zero=ary
(zero-input) function, a degenerate function, which refers to the truth value
0. Although not using, as Grice does, Peanos terminology, Peirce takes the
second option. This set has cardinality 2 (it has exactly 2 members) but it is
not the best we can do. Peirces discovery of what we have called the Sheffer
functions or strokes (anachronistically and unfairly to Peirce, as Grice notes,
but bowing to convention) shows that we can have a set of cardinality 1 (a
one-member set or a so-called singleton) that is minimally functionally
complete with respect to the definable connectives of two-valued propositional
logic. Thus, either one of the following sets can do. The sets are functionally
complete and, because they have only one member each, we say that the
connectives themselves have the property of functional completeness. / is the
symbol of Sheffers stroke or nand and /is the symbol of the Peirce Arrow
or nor. Grice stipulates as such, even though he does not introduce his grammar
formally. It is important to show ow these functions can define other
functions. Algebraically approached, this is a matter of functional composition In
case one wonders why the satisfaction with defining the connectives of the set
that comprises the symbols for negation, inclusive disjunction, and
conjunction, Namesly , there is an explanation. There is an easy, although
informal, way to show that this set is functionally complete. It is not
minimally functionally complete because nor and nand are
inter-definable. But it is functionally complete. Thus, showing that one can
define these functions suffices for achieving functional completeness. Definability
should be thought as logical equivalence. One connective can be defined by
means of others if and only if the formulae in the definition (what is defined
and what is doing the defining) are logically equivalent. Presuppose the
truth-tabular definitions of the connectives. Grice enjoyed that.
Meanwhile, at Corpus, Grice is involved in serious philosophical studies under
the tutelage of Hardie. While his philosophical socialising is limited, having
been born on the wrong side of the tracks, first at Corpus, and then at
Merton, and ending at St. Johns, Grice fails to attend the seminal meetings at
All Souls held on Thursday evenings by the play group of the seven (Austin,
Ayer, Berlin, Hampshire, MacDermott, MacNabb, and Woozley). Three of them will join
Grice in the new play group after the war: Austin, Hampshire, and Woozley. But
at St. Johns Grice tutors Strawson, and learns all about the linguistic botany
methodology on his return from the navy. Indeed, his being appointed Strawson
as his tutee starts a life-long friendship and collaboration. There are
separate entries for the connectives: conjunction, disjunction, and
conditional. Refs.: Allusions to negation are scattered, notably in Essay 4 in
WoW, but also in “Method in philosophical psychology,” and “Prejudices and
predilections” (repr. in “Conception”), and under semantics and syntax. There
are specific essays of different dates, in s. V, in two separate folders, in
BANC.
absolutum: If we say, emissor E communicates that p, what is
relatatum about that? Nothing. The theory of communication NEEDS to be
relative. To search for the absolute in the theory of communication is otiose,
for in communication there is an unavoidable relatum, which is the emissor
himself. Now Grice is interested in an emissor that communicates that p is
absolute. So we need absolute and meta-absolute. I.e. if the emissor can
communicate that ‘p’ is absolute, he has more ground to exert his authority
into inducing in his addressee that the addressee believe what he is intended
to believe.
The
absolutum is one, unlike Grice’s absoluta, or absolutes. Trust Grice to
pluralise Bradley’s absolute. While it is practical to restore the root of
‘axis’ for Grice’s value (validum, optimum), it is not easy to find a
grecianism for the absolutum absolute. Lewis and Short have “absolvere,” which
they render as
‘to loosen from, to make loose, set free, detach, untie (usu. trop., the fig.
being derived from fetters, qs. a vinculis solvere, like “vinculis exsolvere,”
Plaut. Truc. 3, 4, 10). So that makes sense. Lewis and Short also have “absolutum,” which they render as“absolute, unrestricted,
unconditional,” – as in Cicero: “hoc mihi videor videre, esse quasdam cum
adjunctione necessitudines, quasdam simplices et absolutas” (Inv. 2, 57, 170). Grice
repatedly uses the plural ‘abosolutes,’ and occasionally the singular. Obviously,
Grice has in mind the absolute-relative distinction, not wanting to be seen as
relativist, unless it is a constructionist relativist. Grice refers to Bradley in ‘Prolegomena,’ and has an essay
on the ‘absolutes.’ It is all back to when German philosopher F. Schiller, of
Corpus, publishes “Mind!” Its frontispiece is a portrait of the absolute, “very
much like the Bellman’s completely blank map in The hunting of the snark.” The
absolutum is the sum of all being, an emblem of idealism. Idealism dominates
Oxford for part of Grice’s career. The realist mission, headed by Wilson, is to
clean up philosophy’s act Bradley’s Appearance and reality, mirrors the point of
the snark. Bradley uses the example of a lump of sugar. It all begins to
crumble, In Oxonian parlance, the absolute is a boo-jum, you see. Bradley is
clear here, to irritate Ayer: the absolutum is, put simply, a higher unity, pure
spirit. “It can never and it enters into, but is itself incapable of, evolution
and progress.” Especially at Corpus, tutees are aware of Hartmann’s absolutum.
Barnes thinks he can destroy with his emotivism. Hartmann, otherwise a
naturalist, is claims that this or that value exists, not in the realm (Reich)
of nature, but as an ideal essence of a thing, but in a realm which is not
less, but more real than nature. For Hartmann, if a value exists, it is not
relative, but absolute, objective, and rational, and so is a value judgment. Like
Grice, for Hartmann, the relativity dissolves upon conceiving and constructing
a value as an absolutum, not a relativum. The essence of a thing need not
reduce to a contingence. To conceive the essence of a table is to conceive what
the métier of a table. Like Hartmann, Grice is very ‘systematik’ axiologist, and
uses ‘relative’ variously. Already in the Oxford Philosophical Society, Grice
conceives of an utterer’s meaning and his communicatum is notoriously relative.
It is an act of communication relative to an agent. For Grice, there is hardly
a realm of un-constructed reality, so his construction of value as an absolutum
comes as no surprise. Grice is especially irritated by Julie Andrews in Noël
Coward’s “Relative values” and this Oxonian cavalier attitude he perceives in Barnes
and Hare, a pinko simplistic attitude against any absolute. Unlike
Hartmann, Grice adopts not so much a neo-Kantian as an Ariskantian tenet. The
ratiocinative part of the soul of a personal being is designated the proper
judge in the power structure of the soul. Whatever is relative to this
particular creature successfully attains, ipso facto, absolute value. Refs.: For
a good overview of emotivism in Oxford v. Urmson’s The emotive theory of
ethics. Grice, “Values, morals, absolutes, and the metaphysical,” The H. P.
Grice Papers, Series V (Topical), c 9-f. 24, BANC MSS 90/135c, The Bancroft
Library, University of California, Berkeley.
abstractum: In an emissor draws a skull to communicate that there
is danger, the addressee comes to think that there is danger, in the air. Let’s
formalise that proposition as “The air is dangerous.” Is that abstract? It is:
it involves two predicates which may be said to denote two abstracta: the
property of being air, and the property of being dangerous. So abstracta are
unavoidable in a communicatum, that reaches the sophistication of requiring a
‘that’-clause. The usual phrase in Grice
is ‘abstract’ as adjective and applied to ‘entity’ as anything troublesome to
nominalism. At Oxford, Grice belongs to the class for members whose class have
no members. If class C and class C have the same
members, they are the same. A class xx is a set just in case there is a
class yy such that x∈yx∈y. A
class which is not a set is an improper, not a proper class, or a well-ordered
one, as Burali-Forti puts it in ‘Sulle classi ben ordinate.’ Grice reads Cantor's essay and finds an antinomy on the
third page. He mmediately writes his uncle “I am reading Cantor and find an antinomy.”
The antinomy is obvious and concerns the class of all classes that are not
members of themselves. This obviously leads to a pragmatic contradiction, to
echo Moore, since this class must be and not be a member of itself and not a
member of itself. Grice had access to the Correspondence of Zermelo and re-wrote
the antinomy.Which leads Grice to Austin. For Austin thinks he can lead a
class, and that Saturday morning is a good time for a class of members whose
classes have no members, almost an insult. Grice is hardly attached to
canonicals, not even first-order predicate logic with identity and class
theory. Grice sees extensionalism asa a position imbued with the spirit of nominalism
yet dear to the philosopher particularly impressed by the power of class
theory. But Grice is having in mind the concretum-abstractum distinction, and
as an Aristotelian, he wants to defend a category as an abstractum or
universalium. Lewis and Short have ‘concrescere,’ rendered as ‘to grow together;
hence with the prevailing idea of uniting, and generally of soft or liquid
substances which thicken; to harden, condense, curdle, stiffen, congeal, etc.
(very freq., and class. in prose and poetry).’ For ‘abstractum,’ they have
‘abstrăhere, which they render as ‘to draw away from a place or person, to drag
or pull away.’ The ability to see a horse (hippos) without seeing horseness
(hippotes), as Plato remarks, is a matter of stupidity. Yet, perhaps bue to the
commentary by his editors, Grice feels defensive about proposition. Expanding
on an essay on the propositional complexum,’ the idea is that if we construct a
complexum step by step, in class-theoretical terms, one may not committed to an
‘abstract entity.’ But how unabstract is class theory? Grice hardly attaches to
the canonicals of first-order predicate calculus with identity together with
class theory. An item i is a universalium and 'abstractum' iff i fails to
occupy a region in space and time. This raises a few questions. It is
conceivable that an items that is standardly regarded as an 'abstractum' may
nonetheless occupy a volumes of space and time. The school of latter-day
nominalism is for ever criticised at Oxford, and Grice is no exception. The
topic of the abstractum was already present in Grice’s previous generation, as
in the essay by Ryle on the systematically misleading expression, and the
category reprinted in Flew. For it to be, a particular concretum individuum or
prima substantia has to be something, which is what an abstractum universaium
provides. A universal is part of the ‘essentia’ of the particular. Ariskants
motivation for for coining “to katholou” is doxastic. Aristotle claims that to
have a ‘doxa’ requires there to be an abstract universalium, not apart from (“para”),
but holding of (“kata”) a concretum individuum. Within the “this” (“tode”)
there is an aspect of “something” (“ti.”). Aristotle uses the “hêi” (“qua”) locution,
which plays a crucial role in perceiving. Ariskant’s remark that a particular
horse is always a horse (with a species and a genus) may strike the
non-philosopher as trivial. Grice strongly denies that its triviality is
unenlightening, and he loves to quote from Plato. Liddell and Scott have
“ἱππότης,” rendered as “horse-nature, the concept of horse,” Antisth. et Pl.
ap. Simp.in Cat. 208.30,32, Sch. Arist Id.p.167F. Then there is the ‘commensurate
universal,’ the major premise is a universal proposition. Grice provides a
logical construction of such lexemes as “abstractum” and “universalium,” and
“concretum” and “individuum,” or “atomon” in terms of two relations, “izzing”
and “hazzing.” x is an individuum or atomon iff nothing other than x izzes x. Austin
is Austin, and Strawson is Strawson. Now, x is a primum individuum, proton
atomon, or prima substantia, iff x is an individuum, and nothing hazzes x. One needs to distinguish between a singular
individuum and a particular (“to kathekaston,” particulare) simpliciter. Short
and Lewis have “partĭcŭlāris, e, adj.” which they render, unhelpfully, as
“particular,” but also as “of or concerning a part, partial, particular.”
“Propositiones aliae universales, aliae particulares, ADogm. Plat. 3, p. 35,
34: partĭcŭlārĭter is particularly,
ADogm. Plat. 3, p. 33, 32; opp. “generaliter,” Firm. Math. 1, 5 fin.; opp.
“universaliter,” Aug. Retract. 1, 5 fin. Cf. Strawson, “Particular and
general,” crediting Grice twice; the second time about a fine point of
denotatum: ‘the tallest man that ever lived, lives, or will live.” To define a
‘particular,’ you need to introduce, as Ariskant does, the idea of predication.
(∀x)(x
is an individuum)≡◻(∀y)(y izzes x)⊃(x izzes y). (∀x)(x izz a particulare(≡◻(∀y)(x
izzes predicable of y)⊃(x
izzes y Λ y izzes x). Once we have defined a ‘particular,’ we can go
and define a ‘singulare,’ a ‘tode ti,’ a ‘this what.” (∀x)(x izzes singulare)⊃(x izzes an individuum). There’s
further implicate to come. (∀x)(x izzes a particulare)⊃(x izzes an individuum)). The concern by Grice
with the abstractum as a “universalium in re” can be traced back to his reading
of Aristotle’s Categoriæ, for his Lit. Hum., and later with Austin and
Strawson. Anything but a ‘prima substantia,’ ‒ viz. essence, accident, attribute,
etc. ‒ may be said to belong in the realm of the abstractum or
universalium qua predicable. As such, an abstractum and univeralium is not a
spatio-temporal continuant. However, a category shift or
‘subjectification,’ by Grice allows a universalium as subject. The topic is
approached formally by means of the notion of order. First-order predicate
calculus ranges over this or that spatio-temporal continuant individual, in
Strawson’s use of the term. A higher-order predicate calculus ranges over this
or that abstractum, a feature, and beyond. An abstractum universalium is only referred
to in a second-order predicate calculus. This is Grice’s attempt to approach
Aristkant in pragmatic key. In his exploration of the abstractum, Grice is
challenging extensionalism, so fashionable in the New World within The School
of Latter-Day Nominalists. Grice is careful here since he is well aware that
Bennett has called him a meaning-nominalist. Refs.: For pre-play group
reflections see Ryle’s Categories and Systematically misleading expressions.
Explorations by other members of Grice’s playgroup are Strawson, ‘Particular
and general’ and Warnock, ‘Metaphysics in logic,’ The main work by Grice at
Oxford on the ‘abstractum’ is with Austin (f. 15) and later with Strawson (f.23).
Grice, “Aristotle’s Categoriae,” The H. P. Grice Papers, S. II, c. 6-f. 15 and
c. 6, f. 23, BANC MSS 90/135c, The Bancroft Library, The University of
California, Berkeley.
acceptability: Grice generalizes his desirability and credibility
functions into a single acceptability. Acceptability has obviously degrees.
Grice is thinking of ‘scales’ alla: must, optimal acceptability (for both
modalities), should (medium acceptability), and ought (defeasible
acceptability). He develops the views in The John Locke lectures, having
introduced ‘accept,’ in his BA lecture on ‘Intention and Uncertainty.’ In fact,
much as in “Causal Theory” he has an excursus on ‘Implication,’ here he has,
also in italics, an excursus on “acceptance.” It seems that a degree of analogy
between intending and believing has to be admitted; likewise the presence of a
factual commitment in the case of an expression of intention. We can now use
the term ‘acceptance’ to express a generic concept applying both to cases of
intention and to cases of belief. He who intends to do A and he who believes
that he will do A can both be said to accept (or to accept it as being the
case) that he will do A. We could now attempt to renovate the three-pronged
analysis discussed in Section I, replacing references in that analysis to being
sure or certain that one will do A by references to accepting that one will do
A. We might reasonably hope thereby to escape the objections raised in Section
I, since these objections seemingly centred on special features of the notion of
certainty which would NOT attach to the generic notion of acceptance. Hope that
the renovated analysis will enable us to meet the sceptic will not immediately
be realised, for the sceptic can still as (a) why some cases of acceptance
should be specially dispensed from the need for evidential backing, and (b) if
certain cases are exempt from evidential justification but not from
justification, what sort of justification is here required. Some progress might
be achieved by adopting a different analysis of intention in terms of
acceptance. We might suggest that ‘Grice intends to go to Harborne’ is very
roughly equivalent to the conjunction of ‘Grice accepts-1 that he will go to
Harborne’ and ‘Grice accepts-2 that his going to Harborne will result from the
effect of his acceptance-1 that he will go to Harborne. The idea is that when a
case of acceptance is also a case of belief, the accepter does NOT regard his
acceptance as contributing towards the realisation of the state of affairs the
future the existence of which he accepts; whereas when a case of acceptance is
not a case of belief but a case of intention, he does regard the acceptance as
so contributing. Such an analysis clearly enables us to deal with the sceptic
with regard to this question (a), viz. why some cases of acceptance (those
which are cases of intention) should be specially exempt from the need of
evidential backing. For if my going to Harborne is to depend causally on my
acceptance that I shall-c go, the possession of satisfactory evidence that I
shall-c go will involve possession of the information that I accept that I
shall-c go. Obviously, then, I cannot (though others can) come to accept that I
shall-c go on the basis of satisfactory evidence, for to have such evidence I
should have already to have accepted that I shall-c go. I cannot decide whether
or not to accept-1 that I shall-c go on the strength of evidence which includes
as a datum that I do accept-1 that I shall-c go. Grice grants that we are still
unable to deal with the sceptic as regards question (b), viz. what sort of
justification is available for those cases of acceptance which require
non-evidential justification even though they involve a factual commitment. Though
it is clear that, on this analysis, one must not expect the intender to rely on
evidence for his statements of what he will in fact do, we have not provided
any account of the nature of the non-evidential considerations which may be
adduced to justify such a statement, nor (a fortiori) of the reasons why such
considerations might legitimately thought to succeed in justifying such a
statement. Refs.: Grice, “Intention and uncertainty,” The British Academy, and
BANC, MSS 90/135c, The Bancroft Library.
acceptum: As a meta-ethicist, like Hare, Grice is interested in
providing criteria for acceptability. He proposes three formal
universalizability, conceptual universalizability, and applicational
universalizability. This is Grice’s Golden Rule, which is Biblical in nature. Grice
needs a past participle for a ‘that’-clause of something ‘thought’. He has
‘creditum’ for what is believed, and ‘desideratum’ for what is desired. So
he uses ‘acceptum’ for what is accepted, a neutral form to cover both the
desideratum and the creditum. Short and Lewis have ‘accipio,’ f.
‘capio.’ Grice uses the abbreviation “Acc” for this. As he puts it in the
Locke lectures: "An idea I want to
explore is that we represent the sentences ‘Smith should be recovering his health by now’ and ‘Smith should join
the cricket club’ as having the
following structures. First, a common "rationality" operator
'Acc', to be heard as "it is reasonable that", "it is
acceptABLE that", "it ought to be that", "it
should be that", or in some other similar way.Next, one or other of
two mode operators, which in the case of the first are to be written as '⊢' and in the case of the second are to be
written as '!.’ Finally a 'radical', to be represented by 'r' or some other
lower-case letter. The structure for the second is ‘Acc + ⊢ + r. For the second, ‘Acc + ! + r,’
with each symbol falling within the scope of its predecessor. Grice is not a
psychologist, but he speaks of the ‘soul.’ He was a philosopher engaged in
philosophical psychology. The psychological theory which Grice envisages would
be deficient as a theory to explain behaviour if it did not contain provision
for interests in the ascription of psychological states otherwise than as tools
for explaining and predicting behaviour, interests e. g. on the part of one
creature to be able to ascribe these rather than those psychological states to
another creature because of a concern for the other creature. Within such a
theory it should be possible to derive strong motivations on the part of the
creatures Subjects to the theory against the abandonment of the central
concepts of the theory and so of the theory itself, motivations which the
creatures would or should regard as justified.
Indeed, only from within the framework of such a theory, I think, can
matters of evaluation, and so, of the evaluation of modes of explanation, be
raised at all. If I conjecture aright, then, the entrenched system contains the
materials needed to justify its own entrenchment; whereas no rival system
contains a basis for the justification of anything at all. We should recall
that the first rendering that Liddell and Scott give for “ψυχή” is “life;” the
tripartite division of “ψ., οἱ δὲ περὶ Πλάτωνα καὶ Ἀρχύτας καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ
Πυθαγόρειοι τὴν ψ. τριμερῆ ἀποφαίνονται, διαιροῦντες εἰς λογισμὸν καὶ θυμὸν καὶ
ἐπιθυμίαν,” Pl.R.439e sqq.; in Arist. “ἡ ψ. τούτοις ὥρισται, θρεπτικῷ,
αἰσθητικῷ, διανοητικῷ, κινήσει: πότερον δὲ τοὔτων ἕκαστόν ἐστι ψ. ἢ ψυχῆς
μόριον;” de An.413b11, cf. PA641b4; “ἡ θρεπτικὴ ψ.” Id.de An.434a22,
al.; And Aristotle also has Grice’s favourite, ‘psychic,’ ψυχικός , ή, όν,
“of the soul or life, spiritual, opp. “σωματικός, ἡδοναί” Arist.EN1117b28. The
compound “psichiologia” is first used in "Psichiologia de ratione animae
humanae," (in Bozicevic-Natalis, Vita Marci Maruli Spalatensis). A
footnote in “Method,” repr. in “Conception” dates Grice’s lectures at Princeton.
Grice is forever grateful to Carnap for having coined ‘pirot,’ or having
thought to have coined. Apparently, someone had used the expression before him
to mean some sort of exotic fish. He starts by listing this or that a focal
problem. The first problem is circularity. He refers to the dispositional
behaviouristic analysis by Ryle. The second focal problem is the alleged
analytic status of a psychological law. One problem concerns some respect for
Grice’s own privileged access to this or that state and this or that avowal of
this or that state being incorrigible. The fourth problem concerns the
law-selection. He refers to pessimism. He talks of folk-science. D and C are is
each predicate-constant in some law L in some psychological theory θ. This
or that instantiable of D or C may well be a set or a property or neither.
Grices way of Ramseyified naming: There is just one predicate D, such that
nomological generalization L introducing D via implicit definition in
theory θ obtains. Uniqueness is essential since D is assigned to a
names for a particular instantiable (One can dispense with uniqueness by way of
Ramseyified description discussed under ‘ramseyified description.’) Grice
trusts he is not overstretching Ramsey’s original intention. He applies
Ramsey-naming and Ramsey-describing to pain. He who hollers is in pain. Or
rather, He who is in pain hollers. (Sufficient but not necessary). He rejects
disjunctional physicalism on it sounding harsh, as Berkeley puts it, to say
that Smiths brains being in such and such a state is a case of, say, judging
something to be true on insufficient evidence. He criticises the body-soul
identity thesis on dismissing =s main purpose, to license predicate
transfers. Grice wasnt sure what his presidential address to the American
Philosophical Association will be about. He chose the banal (i.e. the
ordinary-language counterpart of something like a need we ascribe to a squirrel
to gobble nuts) and the bizarre: the philosophers construction of need and
other psychological, now theoretical terms. In the proceedings, Grice
creates the discipline of Pology. He cares to mention philosophers Aristotle,
Lewis, Myro, Witters, Ramsey, Ryle, and a few others. The essay became popular
when, of all people, Block, cited it as a programme in functionalism,
which it is Grices method in functionalist philosophical psychology. Introduces
Pology as a creature-construction discipline. Repr. in “Conception,” it
reached a wider audience. The essay is highly subdivided, and covers a lot of
ground. Grice starts by noting that, contra Ryle, he wants to see psychological
predicates as theoretical concepts. The kind of theory he is having in mind is
folksy. The first creature he introduces to apply his method is Toby, a
squarrel, that is a reconstructed squirrel. Grice gives some principles of
Pirotology. Maxims of rational behaviour compound to form what he calls an
immanuel, of which The Conversational Immanuel is a part. Grice concludes with
a warning against the Devil of Scientism, but acknowledges perhaps he was
giving much too credit to Myros influence on this! “Method”
in “Conception,” philosophical psychology, Pirotology. The Immanuel
section is perhaps the most important from the point of view of conversation as
rational cooperation. For he identifies three types of generality: formal,
applicational, and content-based. Also, he allows for there being different
types of imannuels. Surely one should be the conversational immanuel. Ryle
would say that one can have a manual, yet now know how to use it! And theres
also the Witters-type problem. How do we say that the conversationalist is
following the immanuel? Perhaps the statement is too strong – cf. following a
rule – and Grices problems with resultant and basic procedures, and how the
former derive from the latter! This connects with Chomsky, and in general with
Grices antipathy towards constitutive rules! In “Uncertainty,” Grice warns that
his interpretation of Prichards willing that as a state should not preclude a
physicalist analysis, but in Method it is all against physicalism. In Method, from the mundane to the recondite, he is
playful enough to say that primacy is no big deal, and that, if properly
motivated, he might give a reductive analysis of the buletic in terms of the
doxastic. But his reductive analysis of the doxastic in terms of the buletic
runs as follows: P judges that p iff P wills as follows: given any situation in
which P wills some end E and here are two non-empty classes K1 and
K2 of action types, such that: the performance by P of an
action-type belonging to K1 realises E1 just in
case p obtains, and the performance by the P of an action type belonging to of
K2 will realise E just in case p does not obtain, and here is
no third non-empty class K3 of action types such that the
performance by the P of an action type belonging to will realise E
whether p is true or p is false, in such situation, the P is to will that the P
performs some action type belonging to K1. Creature construction
allows for an account of freedom that will metaphysically justify absolute
value. Frankfurt has become famous for his second-order and
higher-order desires. Grice is exploring similar grounds in what comes out as
his “Method” (originally APA presidential address, now repr. in “Conception”).
Refs.: The obvious source is his “Method,” repr. in “Conception,” but the
keyword: “philosophical psychology” is useful in the Grice papers. There is a
specific essay on the power structure of the soul, The H. P. Grice Collection,
BANC.
accidentia. If there is
accidentia, there is ‘essentia.’ One philosophical mistake: what is essential
is not also accidental. Grice follows Kripke in the account of existence and
essence. If Grice’s essence is his rational nature, if Grice becomes
irrational, he ceases to exist. Not so for any property that Grice has which is
NOT essential. An essential property is the first predicable, in that it is not
one of this or that genus that is redundant. So Grice applies ‘accidental,’
like ‘essential’ to ‘attribute,’ and to attribute is to predicate. An essential
attribute is manifested by an essential predicate. A non-essential predicate is
an accidental attribute. There is the ‘idea’ of the ‘proprium,’ idion, with
which Grice has to struggle a little. For what is the implicatum of a ‘proprium’
ascripition? “Man is a laughing animal.” Why would someone say such an idiocy
in the first place?!
additum -- ad-do ,
dĭdi, dĭtum, 3, v. a. 2. do (addues for addideris, Paul. ex Fest. p. 27 Müll.),addition. Strawson Wiggins p.
520. The utterer implies something more or different from what he explicitly
conveys. Cfr. Disimplicatum, ‘less’ under ‘different from’ How seriously are we
taking the ‘more.’ Not used by Grice. They seem cross-categorial. If emissor
draws a skull and then a cross he means that there is danger and death in the
offing. He crosses the cross, so it means death is avoidable. Urmson says that
Warnock went to bed and took off his boots. He implicates in that order. So he
means MORE than the ‘ampersand.” The “and” is expanded into “and then.” But in
not every case things are so easy that it’s a matter of adding stuff. Cf.
summatum, conjunctum.
additive
implicature: By uttering ‘and,’ Russell means the Boolean adition. Whitehead
means ‘and then’. Whithead’s implicatum is ADDITIVE, as opposed to diaphoron.
agitation: a Byzantine feeling is a Ryleian
agitation. If Grice were to advance the not
wholly plausible thesis that ‘to feel Byzantine’ is just to have a an
anti-rylean agitation which is caused by the thought that Grice is or might
*be* Byzantine, it would surely be ridiculous to criticise Grice on the grounds
that Grice saddles himself with an ontological commitment to feelings, or to
modes of feeling. And why? Well, because, alla Parsons, if a quantifier is
covertly involved at all, it will only be a universal quantifier which in such
a case as this is more than adequately handled by a substitutional account of
quantification. Grice’s situation vis-a-vis the ‘proposition’ is in no way
different. In the idiolect of
Ryle, “a serious student of Grecian philosophy,” as Grice puts it, ‘emotion’
designates at least three or four different kinds of things, which Ryle calls
an ‘inclination, or ‘motive,’ a ‘mood’, an ‘agitation,’ or a ‘commotion,’ and a
‘feeling.’ An inclination or a mood, including an agitation, is not occurrences
and doest not therefore take place either publicly or privately. It is a
propensity, not an act or state. An inclination is, however, a propensity of
this or that kind, and the kind is important. A feeling, on the other hand, IS
an occurrence, but the place that mention of it should take in a description of
human behaviour is very different from that which the standard theories accord
to it. A susceptibility to a specific agitation is on the same general footing
with an inclination, viz. that each is a general propensity and not an occurrence.
An agitation is not a motive. But an agitation does presuppose a motive, or
rather an agitataion presupposes a behaviour trend of which a motive is for us
the most interesting sort. There
is however a matter of expression which is the source of some confusion, even
among Oxonian Wilde readers, and that did confuse philosophical psychologists
of the ability of G. F. Stout. An expression may signify both an inclination
and an agitation. But an expression may signify anything but an agitations.
Again, some other expression may signify anything but an inclination. An
expression like ‘uneasy’, ‘anxious’, ‘distressed’, ‘excited’, ‘startled’ always
signifies an agitations. An expression like ‘fond of fishing’, ‘keen on
gardening’, ‘bent on becoming a bishop’ never signifies an agitation. But an
expression like ‘love’, ‘want’, ‘desire’, ‘proud’, ‘eager,’ or many others, stands
sometimes for a simple inclination and sometimes for an agitations which is
resultant upon the inclinations and interferences with the exercise of it. Thus
‘hungry’ for ‘having a good appetite’ means roughly ‘is eating or would eat
heartily and without sauces, etc..’ This is different from ‘hungry’ in which a
person might be said to be ‘too hungry to concentrate on his work’. Hunger in
this second expression is a distress, and requires for its existence the
conjunction of an appetite with the inability to eat. Similarly the way in
which a boy is proud of his school is different from the way in which he is
speechless with pride on being unexpectedly given a place in a school team. To
remove a possible misapprehension, it must be pointed out that an agitation may
be quite agreeable. A man may voluntarily subject himself to suspense, fatigue,
uncertainty, perplexity, fear and surprise in such practices as angling,
rowing, travelling, crossword puzzles, rock-climbing and joking. That a thing
like a thrill, a rapture, a surprise, an amusement and an relief is an
agitation is shown by the fact that we can say that someone is too much thrilled, amused or relieved
to act, think or talk coherently. It
is helpful to notice that, anyhow commonly, the expression which completes ‘pang of . . .’ or ‘chill of . . .’ denotes an
agitation. A feeling, such as a man feeling Byzantine, is intrinsically
connected with an agitation. But a feeling, e. g. of a man who is feeling
Byzantine, is not intrinsically connected with an inclination, save in so far
as the inclination is a factor in the agitation. This is no novel psychological
hypothesis; It is part of the logic of our descriptions of a feeling that a
feeling (such as a man feeling Byzantine) is a sign of an agitation and is not
an exercise of an inclination. A feeling, such as a man feeling Byzantine, in
other words, is not a thing of which it makes sense to ask from what motive it
issues. The same is true, for the same reasons, of any sign of any agitation. This
point shows why we were right to suggest above that a feeling (like a man
feeling Byzantine) does not belong directly to a simple inclination. An inclination
is a certain sort of proneness or readiness to do certain sorts of things on
purpose. These things are therefore describable as being done from that motive.
They are the exercises of the disposition that we call ‘a motive’. A feeling
(such as a man feeling Byzantine) is not from a motive and is therefore not
among the possible exercise of such a propensiy. The widespread theory that a
motive such as vanity, or affection, is in the first instance a disposition to
experience certain specific feeling is therefore absurd. There may be, of
course, a tendency to have a feeling, such as feeling Byzantine; being
vertiginous and rheumatic are such tendencies. But we do not try to modify a
tendency of these kinds by a sermon. What a feeling, such as being Byzantine,
does causally belong to is the agitation. A feeling (such as feeling Byzantine)
is a sign of an agitation in the same sort of way as a stomach-ache is a sign
of indigestion. Roughly, we do not, as the prevalent theory holds, act
purposively because we experience a feeling (such as feeling Byzantine); we
experience a feeling (such as feeling Byzantine), as we wince and shudder,
because we are inhibited from acting purposively. A sentimentalist is a man who
indulges in this or that induced feeling (such as feeling Byzantine) without
acknowledging the fictitiousness of his agitation. It seems to be generally
supposed that ‘pleasure’ or ‘desire’ is always used to signify a feeling. And
there certainly are feelings which can be described as a feeling of pleasure or
desire. Some thrills, shocks, glows and ticklings are feelings of delight,
surprise, relief and amusement; and things like a hankering, an itche, a gnawing
and a yearning is a sign that something is both wanted and missed. But the
transports, surprises, reliefs and distresses of which such a feeling is
diagnosed, or mis-diagnosed, as a sign is not itself a feeling. It is an
agitation or a mood, just as are the transports and distresses which a child
betrays by his skips and his whimpers. Nostalgia is an agitation and one which
can be called a ‘desire’; but it is not merely a feeling or series of feelings.
There is the sense of ‘pleasure’ in which it is commonly replaced by such
expressions as ‘delight’, ‘transport’, ‘rapture’, ‘exultation’ and ‘joy’. These
are expressions of this or that mood signifying this or that agitation. There
are two quite different usages of ‘emotion’, in which we explain people’s
behaviour by reference to emotions. In the first usage of ‘emotion,’ we are
referring to the motives or inclinations from which more or less intelligent
actions are done. In a second usage we are referring to a mood, including the
agitation or perturbation of which some aimless movement may be a sign. In
neither of these usages are we asserting or implicating that the overt
behaviour is the effect of a felt turbulence in the agent’s stream of
consciousness. In a third usage of ‘emotion’, pangs and twinges are feelings or
emotions, but they are not, save per accidens, things by reference to which we
explain behaviour. They are things for which diagnoses are required, not things
required for the diagnoses of behaviour. Since a convulsion of merriment is not
the state of mind of the sober experimentalist, the enjoyment of a joke is also
not an introspectible happening. States of mind such as these more or less
violent agitations can be examined only in retrospect. Yet nothing disastrous
follows from this restriction. We are not shorter of information about panic or
amusement than about other states of mind. If retrospection can give us the
data we need for our knowledge of some states of mind, there is no reason why
it should not do so for all. And this is just what seems to be suggested by the
popular phrase ‘to catch oneself doing so and so’. We catch, as we pursue and
overtake, what is already running away from us. I catch myself daydreaming
about a mountain walk after, perhaps very shortly after, I have begun the
daydream; or I catch myself humming a particular air only when the first few
notes have already been hummed. Retrospection, prompt or delayed, is a genuine
process and one which is exempt from the troubles ensuing from the assumption
of multiply divided attention; it is also exempt from the troubles ensuing from
the assumption that violent agitations could be the objects of cool,
contemporary scrutiny. One may be aware that he is whistling ‘Tipperary’ and
not know that he is whistling it in order to give the appearance of a
sang-froid which he does not feel. Or, again, he may be aware that he is shamming
sang-froid without knowing that the tremors which he is trying to hide derive
from the agitation of a guilty conscience.
animatum: In an act of
communication, Emissor communicates that p, there is a psi involved, therefore
a soul, therefore what the Romans called an ‘anima,’ and the Greeks called the
‘psyche.’ For surely there can be no psi-transmission without a psi. Grice
loved to abbreviate this as the psi, since Lady Asquith, who was a soul, would
not have desired any less from Grice. Grice, like Plato and Aristotle, holds a
tripartite theory of the soul. Where, ‘part’ (Aristotelian ‘meros’) is taken
very seriously. Anything thought. From ‘psyche,’ anima. Grice uses the symbol
of the letter psi here which he renders as ‘animatum.’ Why Grice prefers ‘soul’
to mind. The immortality of a the chicken soul. By Shropshire. Shropshire claims
that the immortality of the soul is proved by the fact that, if you cut off a
chicken's head, the chicken will run round the yard for a quarter of an hour
before dropping. Grice has an an 'expansion' of Shropshire's ingenious
argument.If the soul is not dependent on the body, it is immortal. If the soul
is dependent on the body, it is dependent on that part of the body in which it
is located. If the soul is located in the body, it is located in the head. If
the chicken's soul were located in its head, the chicken's soul would be
destroyed if the head were rendered inoperative by removal from the body. The
chicken runs round the yard after head-removal. It could do this only if
animated, and controlled by its soul. So the chicken's soul is not located in,
and not dependent on, the chicken's head. So the chicken's soul is not
dependent on the chicken's body. So the chicken's soul is immortal. end p.11 If
the chicken's soul is immortal, a fortiori the human soul is immortal. So the
soul is immortal. The question I now ask myself is this: why is it that I
should be quite prepared to believe that the Harvard students ascribed their
expansion of Botvinnik's proof, or at least some part of it, to Botvinnik (as
what he had in mind), whereas I have no inclination at all to ascribe any part
of my expansion to Shropshire? Considerations which at once strike me as being
likely to be relevant are: (1) that Botvinnik's proof without doubt contained
more steps than Shropshire's claim; (2) that the expansion of Botvinnik's proof
probably imported, as extra premisses, only propositions which are true, and
indeed certain; whereas my expansion imports premisses which are false or
dubious; (3) that Botvinnik was highly intelligent and an accomplished
logician; whereas Shropshire was neither very intelligent nor very accomplished
as a philosopher. No doubt these considerations are relevant, though one
wonders whether one would be much readier to accord Shropshire's production the
title of 'reasoning' if it had contained some further striking 'deductions',
such as that since the soul is immortal moral principles have absolute
validity; and one might also ask whether the effect of (3) does not nullify
that of (2), since, if Shropshire was stupid, why should not one ascribe to him
a reconstructed argument containing plainly unacceptable premisses? But,
mainly, I would like some further light on the following question: if such
considerations as those which I have just mentioned are relevant, why are they
relevant? I should say a word about avowals. The following contention might be
advanced. If you want to know whether someone R, who has produced what may be
an incomplete piece of reasoning, has a particular completion in mind, the
direct way to find out is to ask him. That would settle the matter. If,
however, you are unable to ask him, then indirect methods will have to be used,
which may well be indecisive. Indeterminacy springs merely from having to rely
on indirect methods. I have two comments to make. First: it end p.12 is far
from clear to what extent avowals do settle the matter. Anyone who has taught
philosophy is familiar with the situation in which, under pressure to expand an
argument they have advanced, students, particularly beginners, make statements
which, one is inclined to say, misrepresent their position. This phenomenon is
perhaps accounted for by my much more important second point: that avowals in
this kind of context generally do not have the character which one might
without reflection suppose them to have; they are not so much reportive as
constructive. If I ask someone if he thinks that so-and-so is a consequence of
such-and-such, what I shall receive will be primarily a defence of this
supposition, not a report on what, historically, he had in mind in making it.
We are in general much more interested in whether an inferential step is a good
one to make than we are in what a particular person had in mind at the actual
moment at which he made the step. One might perhaps see an analogy between
avowals in this area and the specification of plans. If someone has propounded
a plan for achieving a certain objective, and I ask him what he proposes to do
in such-and-such a contingency, I expect him to do the best he can to specify
for me a way of meeting that contingency, rather than to give a historically
correct account of what thoughts he had been entertaining. This feature of what
I might call inferential avowals is one for which we shall have to account.Let
us take stock. The thesis which we proposed for examination has needed
emendation twice, once in the face of the possibility of bad reasoning, and
once to allow for informal and incomplete reasoning. The reformulation needed
to accommodate the latter is proving difficult to reach. Let us take s and s′
to be sequences consisting of a set of premisses and a conclusion (or, perhaps
it would be better to say, a set of propositions and a further proposition), or
a sequence (sorites) of such sequences. (This is not fully accurate, but will
serve.) Let us suppose that x has produced s (in speech or in thought). Let
"formally cogent" mean "having true premisses, and being such
that steps from premisses to conclusions are formally valid". (1) We
cannot define "s is a piece of reasoning by x" as "x thinks s to
be formally cogent", because if s is an incomplete piece of reasoning s is
not, and could not reasonably be thought by x to be, formally cogent. end p.13
(2) We cannot define "s is a piece of reasoning by x" as "(∃s′) (s′ is an expansion
of s and s′ is formally cogent)" because (a) it does not get in the idea
that x thinks s′ formally cogent and (b) it would exclude bad reasoning. (3) We
cannot define "s is a piece of reasoning by x" as "x thinks that
(∃s′)
(s′ is an expansion of s and s′ is formally cogent)", for this is too
weak, and would allow as reasoning any case in which x believed (for whatever
reason, or lack of reason) that an informal sequence had some formally cogent
expansion or other. (Compare perhaps Shropshire.).” In Latin indeed, ‘animus’
and ‘anima’ make a world of a difference, as Shropshire well knows. Psyche
transliterates as ‘anima’ only; ‘animus’ the Greeks never felt the need for. Of
course a chicken is an animal, as in man. “Homo animalis rationalis.” Grice
prefers ‘human,’ but sometimes he uses ‘animal,’ as opposed to ‘vegetal,
sometimes, when considering stages of freedom. A stone (mineral) displays a
‘free’ fall, which is metabolical. And then, a vegetable is less free than an
animal, which can move, and a non-human animal (that Grice calls ‘a beast’) is
less free than man, who is a rational animal. Grice notes that back in the day,
when the prince came from a hunt, “I brought some animals,” since these were
‘deer,’ ‘deer’ was taken as meaning ‘animal,’ when the implicatum was very much
cancellable. The Anglo-Saxons soon dropped the ‘deer’ and adopted the Latinate
‘animal.’ They narrowed the use of ‘deer’ for the ‘cervus cervus.’ But not
across the North Sea where the zoo is still called a ‘deer-garden.’ When
Aelfric studied philosophy he once thought man was a rational deer.
aporia: Cognate with
porosity. No porosity, and you get an impasse. While aware of Baker’s and
Deutsch’s treatment of the ‘aporia’ in Aristotle’s account of ‘philos,’ Grice
explores ‘aporia’ in Plato in the Thrasymachus on ‘legal justice’ prior to
‘moral justice’ in Republic. in Dialectic, question for discussion, difficulty,
puzzle, “ἀπορίᾳ σχόμενος” Pl.Prt.321c; ἀ. ἣν ἀπορεῖς ib.324d; “ἡ ἀ. ἰσότης ἐναντίων
λογισμῶν” Arist. Top.145b1, al.; “ἔχει ἀπορίαν περί τινος” Id.Pol.1285b28; “αἱ
μὲν οὖν ἀ. τοιαῦταί τινες συμβαίνουσιν” Id.EN1146b6; “οὐδεμίαν ποιήσει ἀ.”
Id.Metaph.1085a27; ἀ. λύειν, διαλύειν, Id.MM 1201b1, Metaph.1062b31; “ἀπορίᾳ ἀπορίαν
λύειν” D.S.1.37.Discussion with the
Sophist Thrasymachus can
only lead to aporia.
And the more I trust you, the more I sink into an aporia of
sorts. —Aha! roared Thrasymachus to everyone's surprise. There it is!
Socratic aporia is
back! Charge! neither Socrates' company nor Socrates himself gives any
convincing answer. So, he says, finding himself in a real aporia, he
visits Thrasymachus as
well, and ... I argue that a combination of these means in form
that I call “provocative-aporetic” better accounts for the means that Plato
uses to exert a protreptic effect on readers. Aporia is a simultaneously
intellectual and affective experience, and the way that readers choose to
respond to aporia has a greater protreptic effect than either affective or
intellectual means alone. When Socrates says he can 'transfer' the use of
"just" to things related to the 'soul,' what kind of conversational
game is that? Grice took Socrates's manoeuvre very
seriously.Socrates relies on the tripartite theory of the soul. Plato, actually -- since Socrates is a drammatis persona! In "Philosophical Eschatology, Metaphysics, and Plato's
Republic," H. P. Grice's purpose is to carry out a provocative-aporetic
reading Book I Grice argues that it is a dispute between two ways of
understanding 'just' which causes the aporia when Socrates tries to analyse
'just.' Although Socrates will not argue for the complexity and tripartition
of the soul until Bk. IV, we can at least note the contrast with Thrasymachus'
“idealize user” theory.For Socrates, agents are complex, and justice
coordinates the parts of the agent.For Thrasymachus, agents are simple “users,”
and justice is a tool for use. (2 - 3) Justice makes its possessor happy;
the function (telos, metier) argument. To make the argument that justice
is an excellence (virtus, arete) of soul (psyche) that makes its possessor
happy, Socrates relies on a method for discovering the function (ἔργον, ergon,
352e1, cf. telos, metier, causa finalis) of any object
whatsoever. Socrates begins by differentiating between an exclusive
functions and an optimal function, so that we may discover the functions in
different types of objects, i.e., natural and artificial objects. We can
say an object performs some function (ergon) if one of the following conditions
holds.If the object is the only one that can do the work in
question, or If it is the object that does that work best.Socrates
then provides examples from different part-whole complexes to make his
point. The eye's exclusive function is to see, because no other organ is
specialized so as to perform just that function. A horse's work is to
carry riders into battle. Even though this might not be a horse's
EXCLUSIVE function, it may be its “optimal” function in that the horse is best
suited or designed by God to the task. Finally, the pruning knife is best
for tending to vines, not because it cannot cut anything else, but because it
is optimally suited for that task. Socrates' use of the pruning knife of
as an example of a thing's function resembles a return to the technē model,
since a craftsman must make the knife for a gardener to Socrates asks,
“Would you define this as the function of a horse and of anything else, as that
which someone does either through that thing alone, or best?” (...τοῦτο ἄν
θείης καὶ ἵππου καὶ ἄλλου ὁτουοῦν ἔργον, ὅ ἄν ἤ μόνῳ ἐκείνῳ ποιῇ τις ἤ ἄριστα;
352e1-2) Thrasymachus agrees to this definition of function. 91 use.But his use
of the eye — a bodily organ — should dissuade us from this view. One may
use these examples to argue that Socrates is in fact offering a new method to
investigate the nature of justice: 1) Find out what the functions of such
objects are2) determine (by observation, experiment, or even thought
experiment) cases where objects of such a kind perform their functions well and
cases where they perform them poorly; and 3) finally find out the
qualities that enable them to perform such functions well (and in the absence
of which they perform poorly), and these are their virtues.A crucial difference
between this method and technē model of justice lies in the interpretation that
each assigns to the realm of human artifacts. Polemarchus and Thrasymachus
both assume that the technē is unique as a form of knowledge for the power and
control that it offers users. In Polemarchus' case, the technē of justice,
“helping friends and harming enemies,” may be interpreted as a description of a
method for gaining political power within a traditional framework of communal
life, which assumes the oikos as the basic unit of power. Those families
that help their friends and harm their enemies thrive. Thrasymachus, on
the other hand, emphasizes the ways that technai grant users the power to
exploit nature to further their own, distinctively individual ends. Thus,
the shepherd exploits the sheep to make a livelihood for himself. Socrates'
approach differs from these by re-casting “mastery” over nature as submission
to norms that structure the natural world. For example, many factors contribute
to making This points to a distinction Socrates draws in Book X between
producers and users of artifacts. He uses the example of the blacksmith
who makes a bridle and the horseman who uses the bridle to argue that
production and use correspond to two gradations of knowledge (601c). The
ultimate purpose of the example is to provide a metaphor — using the craft
analogy — for identifying gradations of knowledge on a copy-original paradigm of
the form-participant relation. the pruning knife the optimal tool for
cutting vines: the shape of the human hand, the thickness and shape of the
vines, and the metal of the blade. Likewise, in order for horses to
optimally perform their “work,” they must be "healthy" and
strong. The conditions that bring about their "health" and
strength are not up to us, however."Control” only comes about through the
recognition of natural norms. Thus technē is a type of knowledge that
coordinates structures in nature.It is not an unlimited source of
power. Socrates' inclusion of the human soul (psyche) among those things
that have a function is the more controversial aspect of function
argument.Socrates says that the functions (erga) of the soul (psyche)
are “to engage in care-taking, ruling, and deliberation” and, later,
simply that the ergon (or function) of the soul (or psyche) is “to live”
(τὸ ζῆν, "to zen," 353d6). But the difficulty seems to be this:
the functions of pruning knives, horses, and bodily organs are determined with
respect to a limited and fairly unambiguous context that is already defined for
them. But what is this context with respect to the soul (psyche) of a
human individual? One answer might be that the social world — politics —
provides the context that defines the soul's function, just as the needs of the
human organism define the context in which the eye can perform a
function. But here a challenger might reply that in aristocracies,
oligarchies, and democracies, “care-taking, ruling, and deliberation” are
utilized for different ends.In these contexts, individual souls might have
different functions, according to the “needs” that these different regimes
have. Alternatively, one might deny altogether that the human soul has a
function: the distinctive feature of human beings might be their position
“outside” of nature. Thus, even if Socrates' description of the soul's
function is accurate, it is too general to be really informative.Socrates must
offer more details for the function argument to be convincing. Nonetheless,
the idea that justice is a condition that lets the soul perform its functions
is a significant departure from the technē model of justice, and one that
will remain throughout the argument of the Republic. […] τὸ ἐπιμελεῖσθαι καὶ
ἄρχειν καὶ βουλεύεσθαι (353d3). As far as Bk. I is concerned, “justice”
functions as a place-holder for that condition of the soul which permits the
soul to perform its functions well. What that condition is, however,
remains unknown.For this reason, Plato has Socrates concludes Bk. I by likening
himself to a “glutton” (ὥσπερ οἱ λίχνοι, 354b1), who takes another dish before
“moderately enjoying the previous” serving (πρὶν τοῦ προτέρου μετρίως
ἀπολαύσαι, 354b2-3). For Socrates wants to know what effects the optimal
condition of soul brings about before knowing what the condition itself
is. Thus Bk. I concludes in "aporia," but not in a way that
betrays the dialogue's lack of unity.The “separatist” thesis concerning Bk. I
goes back to Hermann in "Geschichte und System der Platonischen
Philosophie." One can argue on behalf of the “separatist” view as
well. One can argue against the separatist thesis, even granting some
evidence in favour of the separatist thesis. To the contrary, the
"aporia" clearly foreshadows the argument that Socrates makes about
the soul in Bk. IV, viz. that the soul (psyche) is a complex whole of parts --
an implicatum in the “justice is stronger” argument -- and that 'just' is the
condition that allows this complex whole be integrated to an optimal degree. Thus,
Bk. I does not conclude negatively, but rather provides the resources for going
beyond the "technē" model of justice, which is the primary cause of
Polemarchus's and Thrasymachus's encounter with "aporia" in Bk. I. Throughout
conversation of "The Republic," Socrates does not really alter the
argument he gives for justice in Bk. I, but rather states the same argument in
a different way. My gratitude to P. N. Moore. Refs: Wise guys
and smart alecks in Republic 1 and 2; Proleptic composition in the Republic, or
why Bk. 1 was never a separate dialogue, The Classical Quarterly;
"Socrates: ironist and moral philosopher."
Argo. Boethius argumentum. argŭo ,
ŭi, ūtum (ŭĭtum, hence arguiturus, Sall. Fragm. ap. Prisc. p. 882 P.), 3, v. a.
cf. ἀργής, white; ἀργός, bright; Sanscr. árgunas, bright; ragatas, white; and
rag, to shine (v. argentum and argilla); after the same analogy we have clarus,
bright; and claro, to make bright, to make evident; and the Engl. clear, adj.,
and to clear = to make clear; v. Georg Curtius p. 171. I. A.. In gen., to
make clear, to show, prove, make known, declare, assert, μηνύειν: “arguo Eam me
vidisse intus,” Plaut. Mil. 2, 3, 66: “non ex auditu arguo,” id. Bacch. 3, 3,
65: “M. Valerius Laevinus ... speculatores, non legatos, venisse arguebat,”
Liv. 30, 23: “degeneres animos timor arguit,” Verg. A. 4, 13: “amantem et
languor et silentium Arguit,” Hor. Epod. 11, 9; id. C. 1, 13, 7.—Pass., in a
mid. signif.: “apparet virtus arguiturque malis,” makes itself known, Ov. Tr.
4, 3, 80: “laudibus arguitur vini vinosus Homerus,” betrays himself, Hor. Ep.
1, 19, 6.— B. Esp. a. With aliquem, to attempt to show something, in one's
case, against him, to accuse, reprove, censure, charge with: Indicāsse est
detulisse; “arguisse accusāsse et convicisse,” Dig. 50, 16, 197 (cf. Fest. p.
22: Argutum iri in discrimen vocari): tu delinquis, ego arguar pro malefactis?
Enn. (as transl. of Eurip. Iphig. Aul. 384: Εἶτ̓ ἐγὼ δίκην δῶ σῶν κακῶν ὁ μὴ
σφαλείς) ap. Rufin. § “37: servos ipsos neque accuso neque arguo neque purgo,”
Cic. Rosc. Am. 41, 120: “Pergin, sceleste, intendere hanc arguere?” Plaut. Mil.
2, 4, 27; 2, 2, 32: “hae tabellae te arguunt,” id. Bacch. 4, 6, 10: “an hunc
porro tactum sapor arguet oris?” Lucr. 4, 487: “quod adjeci, non ut arguerem,
sed ne arguerer,” Vell. 2, 53, 4: “coram aliquem arguere,” Liv. 43, 5: “apud
praefectum,” Tac. A. 14, 41: “(Deus) arguit te heri,” Vulg. Gen. 31, 42; ib.
Lev. 19, 17; ib. 2 Tim. 4, 2; ib. Apoc. 3, 19 al.— b. With the cause of
complaint in the gen.; abl. with or without de; with in with abl.; with acc.;
with a clause as object; or with ut (cf. Ramsh. p. 326; Zumpt, § 446). (α).
With gen.: “malorum facinorum,” Plaut. Ps. 2, 4, 56 (cf. infra, argutus, B.
2.): “aliquem probri, Stupri, dedecoris,” id. Am. 3, 2, 2: “viros mortuos summi
sceleris,” Cic. Rab. Perd. 9, 26: “aliquem tanti facinoris,” id. Cael. 1:
“criminis,” Tac. H. 1, 48: “furti me arguent,” Vulg. Gen. 30, 33; ib. Eccl. 11,
8: “repetundarum,” Tac. A. 3, 33: “occupandae rei publicae,” id. ib. 6, 10:
“neglegentiae,” Suet. Caes. 53: “noxae,” id. Aug. 67: “veneni in se comparati,”
id. Tib. 49: “socordiae,” id. Claud. 3: “mendacii,” id. Oth. 10: “timoris,”
Verg. A. 11, 384: “sceleris arguemur,” Vulg. 4 Reg. 7, 9; ib. Act. 19, 40 al.—
(β). With abl.: “te hoc crimine non arguo,” Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 18; Nep. Paus. 3
fin.— (γ). With de: “de eo crimine, quo de arguatur,” Cic. Inv 2, 11, 37: “de
quibus quoniam verbo arguit, etc.,” id. Rosc. Am. 29 fin.: “Quis arguet me de
peccato?” Vulg. Joan. 8, 46; 16, 8.— (δ). With in with abl. (eccl. Lat.): “non
in sacrificiis tuis arguam te,” Vulg. Psa. 49, 8.—(ε) With
acc.: quid undas Arguit et liquidam molem camposque natantīs? of what does he
impeach the waves? etc., quid being here equivalent to cujus or de quo, Lucr.
6, 405 Munro.—(ζ) With
an inf.-clause as object: “quae (mulier) me arguit Hanc domo ab se
subripuisse,” Plaut. Men. 5, 2, 62; id. Mil. 2, 4, 36: “occidisse patrem Sex.
Roscius arguitur,” Cic. Rosc. Am. 13, 37: “auctor illius injuriae fuisse
arguebatur?” Cic. Verr. 2, 1, 33: “qui sibimet vim ferro intulisse arguebatur,”
Suet. Claud. 16; id. Ner. 33; id. Galb. 7: “me Arguit incepto rerum accessisse
labori,” Ov. M. 13, 297; 15, 504.—(η) With ut, as in Gr. ὡς (post-Aug. and rare), Suet. Ner. 7: “hunc
ut dominum et tyrannum, illum ut proditorem arguentes,” as being master and
tyrant, Just. 22, 3.— II. Transf. to the thing. 1. To accuse, censure, blame:
“ea culpa, quam arguo,” Liv. 1, 28: “peccata coram omnibus argue,” Vulg. 1 Tim.
5, 20: “tribuni plebis dum arguunt in C. Caesare regni voluntatem,” Vell. 2,
68; Suet. Tit. 5 fin.: “taciturnitatem pudoremque quorumdam pro tristitiā et
malignitate arguens,” id. Ner. 23; id. Caes. 75: “arguebat et perperam editos
census,” he accused of giving a false statement of property, census, id. Calig.
38: “primusque animalia mensis Arguit imponi,” censured, taught that it was
wrong, Ov. M. 15, 73: “ut non arguantur opera ejus,” Vulg. Joan. 3, 20.— 2.
Trop., to denounce as false: “quod et ipsum Fenestella arguit,” Suet. Vit. Ter.
p. 292 Roth.—With reference to the person, to refute, confute: “aliquem,” Suet.
Calig. 8.—Hence, argūtus , a, um, P. a. A. Of physical objects, clear. 1. To
the sight, bright, glancing, lively: “manus autem minus arguta, digitis
subsequens verba, non exprimens,” not too much in motion, Cic. de Or. 3, 59,
220 (cf. id. Or. 18, 59: nullae argutiae digitorum, and Quint. 11, 3, 119-123):
“manus inter agendum argutae admodum et gestuosae,” Gell. 1, 5, 2: “et oculi
nimis arguti, quem ad modum animo affecti sumus, loquuntur,” Cic. Leg. 1, 9,
27: “ocelli,” Ov. Am. 3, 3, 9; 3, 2, 83: “argutum caput,” a head graceful in
motion, Verg. G. 3, 80 (breve, Servius, but this idea is too prosaic): aures
breves et argutae, ears that move quickly (not stiff, rigid), Pall. 4, 13, 2:
“argutā in soleā,” in the neat sandal, Cat. 68, 72.— 2. a.. To the hearing,
clear, penetrating, piercing, both of pleasant and disagreeable sounds,
clear-sounding, sharp, noisy, rustling, whizzing, rattling, clashing, etc.
(mostly poet.): linguae, Naev. ap. Non. p. 9, 24: “aves,” Prop. 1, 18, 30:
“hirundo,” chirping, Verg. G. 1, 377: “olores,” tuneful, id. E. 9, 36: ilex,
murmuring, rustling (as moved by the wind), id. ib. 7, 1: “nemus,” id. ib. 8,
22 al.—Hence, a poet. epithet of the musician and poet, clear-sounding,
melodious: “Neaera,” Hor. C. 3, 14, 21: “poëtae,” id. Ep. 2, 2, 90: “fama est
arguti Nemesis formosa Tibullus,” Mart. 8, 73, 7: forum, full of bustle or din,
noisy, Ov. A.A. 1, 80: “serra,” grating, Verg. G. 1, 143: “pecten,” rattling,
id. ib. 1, 294; id. A. 7, 14 (cf. in Gr. κερκὶς ἀοιδός, Aristoph. Ranae, v.
1316) al.—Hence, of rattling, prating, verbose discourse: “sine virtute argutum
civem mihi habeam pro preaeficā, etc.,” Plaut. Truc. 2, 6, 14: “[Neque
mendaciloquom neque adeo argutum magis],” id. Trin. 1, 2, 163 Ritschl.— b.
Trop., of written communications, rattling, wordy, verbose: “obviam mihi
litteras quam argutissimas de omnibus rebus crebro mittas,” Cic. Att. 6, 5:
vereor, ne tibi nimium arguta haec sedulitas videatur, Cael. ap. Cic. Fam. 8,
1. —Transf. to omens, clear, distinct, conclusive, clearly indicative, etc.:
“sunt qui vel argutissima haec exta esse dicant,” Cic. Div. 2, 12 fin.: “non
tibi candidus argutum sternuit omen Amor?” Prop. 2, 3, 24.— 3. To the smell; sharp,
pungent: “odor argutior,” Plin. 15, 3, 4, § 18.— 4. To the taste; sharp, keen,
pungent: “sapor,” Pall. 3, 25, 4; 4, 10, 26.— B. Of mental qualities. 1. In a
good sense, bright, acute, sagacious, witty: “quis illo (sc. Catone) acerbior
in vituperando? in sententiis argutior?” Cic. Brut. 17, 65: “orator,” id. ib.
70, 247: “poëma facit ita festivum, ita concinnum, ita elegans, nihil ut fieri
possit argutius,” id. Pis. 29; so, “dicta argutissima,” id. de Or. 2, 61, 250:
“sententiae,” id. Opt. Gen. 2: “acumen,” Hor. A. P. 364: “arguto ficta dolore
queri,” dexterously-feigned pain, Prop. 1, 18, 26 al.— 2. In a bad sense, sly,
artful, cunning: “meretrix,” Hor. S. 1, 10, 40: calo. id. Ep. 1, 14, 42:
“milites,” Veg. Mil. 3, 6.—As a pun: ecquid argutus est? is he cunning? Ch.
Malorum facinorum saepissime (i.e. has been accused of), Plaut. Ps. 2, 4, 56
(v. supra, I. B. a.).—Hence, adv.: argūtē (only in the signif. of B.). a.
Subtly, acutely: “respondere,” Cic. Cael. 8: “conicere,” id. Brut. 14, 53:
“dicere,” id. Or. 28, 98.—Comp.: “dicere,” Cic. Brut. 11, 42.— Sup.: “de re
argutissime disputare,” Cic. de Or. 2, 4, 18.— b. Craftily: “obrepere,” Plaut.
Trin. 4, 2, 132; Arn. 5, p. 181.
Ariskant: Grice, of course,
read Ariskant in the vernacular. Critique of Pure Reason. Translated by Francis Haywood. William Pickering.
1838. critick of pure reason. (first English translation) Critique
of Pure Reason. Translated by J. M. D. Meiklejohn. 1855 – via Project Gutenberg.Critique of Pure Reason.
Translated by Thomas Kingsmill Abbott. 1873.Critique of Pure Reason. Translated by Friedrich Max Müller. The Macmillan Company.
1881. (Introduction
by Ludwig Noiré)Critique of Pure Reason. Translated by Norman Kemp Smith. Palgrave Macmillan.
1929. ISBN 1-4039-1194-0. Archived from the
original on 2009-04-27.Critique
of Pure Reason. Translated by Wolfgang Schwartz. Scientia Verlag
und Antiquariat. 1982. ISBN 978-3-5110-9260-3.Critique of Pure Reason. Translated by Werner S.
Pluhar. Hackett Publishing. 1996. ISBN 978-0-87220-257-3.Critique of Pure Reason, Abridged. Translated by Werner S.
Pluhar. Hackett Publishing. 1999. ISBN 978-1-6246-6605-6.Critique of Pure Reason.
Translated and edited by Paul Guyer and Allen W. Wood. Cambridge University
Press. 1999. ISBN 978-0-5216-5729-7.Critique of Pure Reason. Translated
by Marcus Weigelt. Penguin Books. 2007. ISBN 978-0-1404-4747-7. Grice’s
favourite philosopher is Ariskant. One way to approach Grice’s meta-philosophy
is by combining teleology with deontology. Eventually, Grice embraces a
hedonistic eudaimonism, if rationally approved. Grice knows how to tutor in
philosophy: he tutor on Kant as if he is tutoring on Aristotle, and vice versa.
His tutees would say, Here come [sic] Kantotle. Grice is obsessed with
Kantotle. He would teach one or the other as an ethics requirement. Back at
Oxford, the emphasis is of course Aristotle, but he is aware of some trends to
introduce Kant in the Lit.Hum. curriculum, not with much success. Strawson does
his share with the pure reason in Kant in The bounds of sense, but White professors
of moral philosophy are usually not too keen on the critique by Kant of practical
reason. Grice is fascinated that an Irishman, back in 1873, cares to translate
(“for me”) all that Kant has to say about the eudaimonism and hedonism of
Aristotle. An Oxonian philosopher is expected to be a utilitarian, as Hare is,
or a Hegelian, and that is why Grice prefers, heterodoxical as he is, to be a
Kantian rationalist instead. But Grice cannot help being Aristotelian, Hardie
having instilled the “Eth. Nich.” on him at Corpus. While he can’t read Kant in
German, Grice uses Abbott’s Irish vernacular. Note the archaic metaphysic
sic in singular. More Kant. Since Baker can read the vernacular even
less than Grice, it may be good to review the editions. It all starts when
Abbott thinks that his fellow Irishmen are unable to tackle Kant in the
vernacular. Abbott’s thing comes out in 1873: Kant’s critique of practical
reason and other works on the theory of tthics, with Grice quipping. Oddly, I
prefer his other work! Grice collaborates with Baker mainly on work on meta-ethics
seen as an offspring, alla Kant, of philosophical psychology. Akrasia or
egkrateia is one such topic. Baker contributes to PGRICE, a festschrift for
Grice, with an essay on the purity, and alleged lack thereof, of this or that
morally evaluable motive – rhetorically put: do ones motives have to
be pure? For Grice morality cashes out in self-love, self-interest, and desire.
Baker also contributes to a volume on Grice’s honour published by
Palgrave, Meaning and analysis: essays on Grice. Baker organises of a
symposium on the thought of Grice for the APA, the proceedings of which published
in The Journal of Philosophy, with Bennett as chair, contributions by Baker and
Grandy, commented by Stalnaker andWarner. Grice explores with Baker problems
of egcrateia and the reduction of duty to self-love and interest. Refs.: The
obvious keyword is “Kant,” – especially in the Series III on the doctrines, in
collaboration with Baker. There are essays on the Grundlegung, too. The keyword
for “Kantotle,” and the keywords for ‘free,’ and ‘freedom,’ and ‘practical
reason,’ and ‘autonomy, are also helpful. Some of this material in “Actions and
events,” “The influence of Kant on Aristotle,” by H. P. Grice, John Locke
Scholar (failed), etc., Oxford (Advisor: J. Dempsey). The H. P. Grice Papers,
BANC.
arbor griceiana: ramification – Starwson Wiggins p. 520, the principle ramifies into the maxims. This
is Strawson and Wiggins way of putting this. It’s a difficult issue. What the
connection is between Grice’s principle of conversational helpfulness and the
attending conversational maxims. Strawson and Wiggins state that Grice should
not feel the burden to make the maxims ‘necessarily independent.’ The image of
the ramification is a good one – Grice called it ‘arbor griceiana.’
Grice’s
pilgrimage. In
his pilgrimage towards what he calls the city of Eternal Truth he finds twelve
perils – which he lists. The first is Extensionalism (as opposed to
Intensionalism – vide intentum -- consequentes
rem intellectam: intendere est essentialiter ipsum esse intentio ... quam a concepto sibi adequato:
Odint 226; esse intentum est esse non reale: The second is
Nominalism (opposite Realism and Conceptualism – Universalism, Abstractionism).
It is funny that Grice was criticised for representing each of the perils!The
third is Positivism. Opposite to Negativism. Just kidding. Opposite to anything Sir Freddie Ayer was
opposite to!The fourth is Naturalism. Opposite Non-Naturalism. Just joking! But
that’s the hateful word brought by G. E. Moore, whom Grice liked (“Some like
Witters, but Moore’s MY man.”) The fifth is Mechanism. Opposite Libertarianism,
or Finalism, But I guess one likes Libertarianism.The sixth is Phenomenalism. You
cannot oppose it to Physicalism, beause that comes next. So this is G. A. Paul
(“Is there a problem about sense data?). And the opposite is anything this
Scots philosopher was against!The seventh is Reductionism. Opposite
Reductivism. Grice was proud to teach J. M. Rountree the distinction between a
benevolent reductionist and a malignant eliminationist reductionist. The eighth
is physicalism.Opposite metaphysicalism. The ninth is materialism. Hyleism. Opposite
Formalism. Or Immaterialism. The tenth is Empiricism. Opposite Rationalism. The
eleventh is Scepticism.Opposite Dogmatism.and the twelfth is functionalism.
Opposite Grice! So now let’s order the twelve perils alphabetically. Empiricism.
Extensionalism. Functionalism. MaterialismMechanism. Naturalism. Nominalism. Phenomenalism.
Positivism. Physicalism. Reductionism. Scepticism. Now let us see how they
apply to the theory of the conversational implicatum and conversation as
rational cooperation. Empiricism – Grice is an avowed
rationalist.Extensionalism – His main concern is that the predicate in the proposition
which is communicated is void, we yield the counterintuitive result that an
emissor who communicates that the S is V, where V is vacuous communicates the
same thing he would be communicating for any other vacuous predicate
V’Functionalism – There is a purely experiential qualia in some emissor
communicating that p that is not covered by the common-or-garden variety of
functionalism. E.g. “I love myself.” Materialism – rationalism means dealing
with a realm of noumena which goes beyond materialismMechanism – rationalism
entails end-setting unweighed finality and freedom. Naturalism – communication
involves optimality which is beyond naturalism Nominalism – a predicate is an
abstractum. Phenomenalism – there is realism which gives priority to the material
thing, not the sense datum. A sense datum of an apple does not nourish us.
Positivism – an emissor may communicate a value, which is not positivistically
reduced to something verifiable. Physicalism – there must be multiple
realization, and many things physicalists say sound ‘harsh’ to Grice’s ears
(“Smith’s brain being in state C doesn’t have adequate evidence”). Reductionism
– We are not eliminating anything. Scepticism – there are dogmas which are
derived from paradigm cases, even sophisticated ones.How to introduce the
twelve entriesEmpiricism – from Greek empereia – cf. etymology for English
‘experience.’Extensionalism -- extensumFunctionalism – functum.
Materialism -- Mechanism Naturalism Nominalism
Phenomenalism Positivism Physicalism Reductionism Scepticism. this section events
are reviewed according to principal scenes of action. Place names appear in the
order in which major incidents occur. City
of Destruction. The city stands as a symbol of the entire world as it
is, with all of its sins, corruptions, and sorrows. No one living there can
have any hope of salvation. Convinced that the city is about to be blasted by
the wrath of God, Christian flees and sets out alone on a pilgrimage which he
hopes will lead him to Mount Zion, to the Celestial City, where he can enjoy
eternal life in the happy company of God and the Heavenly Host. Slough of Despond. A swamp, a bog, a
quagmire, the first obstacle in Christian's course. Pilgrims are apt to get
mired down here by their doubts and fears. After much difficulty and with some
providential help, Christian finally manages to flounder across the treacherous
bog and is on his way again. Village of
Morality. Near the village Christian meets Mr. Worldly Wiseman, who,
though not religiously inclined, is a friendly and well-disposed person. He
tells Christian that it would be foolish of him to continue his pilgrimage, the
end of which could only be hunger, pain, and death. Christian should be a
sensible fellow and settle down in the Village of Morality. It would be a good
place to raise a family, for living was cheap there and they would have honest,
well-behaved people as neighbors — people who lived by the Ten Commandments. More
than a little tempted by this, Christian decides that he should at least have a
look at Morality. But along the way he is stopped by his friend Evangelist, who
berates him sharply for having listened to anything Mr. Worldly Wiseman might
have to say. If Christian is seriously interested in saving his soul, he would
be well advised to get back as quickly as possible on the path to the Wicket
Gate which Evangelist had pointed out to him before. Wicket Gate. Arriving almost out of breath, Christian reads the
sign on the gate: "Knock and it shall be opened unto you." He knocks
a number of times before arousing the gatekeeper, a "grave person"
named Good-will, who comes out to ask what Christian wants. After the latter
has explained his mission, he is let through the gate, which opens on the Holy
Way, a straight and narrow path leading toward the Celestial City. Christian
asks if he can now be relieved of the heavy burden — a sack filled with his
sins and woes — that he has been carrying on his back for so long. Good-will
replies that he cannot help him, but that if all goes well, Christian will be
freed of his burden in due course. Interpreter's
House. On Good-will's advice, Christian makes his first stop at the
large house of Interpreter, a character symbolizing the Holy Spirit.
Interpreter shows his guest a number of "excellent things." These
include a portrait of the ideal pastor with the Bible in his hand and a crown
of gold on his head; a dusty parlor which is like the human heart before it is
cleansed with the Gospel; a sinner in an iron cage, an apostate doomed to
suffer the torments of Hell through all eternity; a wall with a fire burning
against it. A figure (the Devil himself) is busily throwing water on the fire
to put it out. But he would never succeed, Interpreter explains, because the
fire represents the divine spirit in the human heart and a figure on the far
side of the wall keeps the fire burning brightly by secretly pouring oil on it
— "the oil of Christ's Grace." The Cross. Beyond Interpreter's House, Christian comes to the
Cross, which stands on higher ground beside the Holy Way. Below it, at the foot
of the gentle slope, is an open sepulcher. When Christian stops by the Cross,
the burden on his back suddenly slips from his shoulders, rolls down the slope,
and falls into the open sepulcher, to be seen no more. As Christian stands
weeping with joy, three Shining Ones (angels) appear. They tell him all his
sins are now forgiven, give him bright new raiment to replace his old ragged
clothes, and hand him a parchment, "a Roll with a seal upon it." For
his edification and instruction, Christian is to read the Roll as he goes
along, and when he reaches the Pearly Gates, he is to present it as his
credentials a sort of passport to Heaven, as it were. Difficulty Hill. The Holy Way beyond the Cross is fenced in with a
high wall on either side. The walls have been erected to force all aspiring
Pilgrims to enter the Holy Way in the proper manner, through the Wicket Gate.
As Christian is passing along, two men — Formalist and Hypocrisy — climb over
the wall and drop down beside him. Christian finds fault with this and gives
the wall-jumpers a lecture on the dangers of trying shortcuts. They have been
successfully taking shortcuts all their lives, the intruders reply, and all
will go well this time. Not too pleased with his company, Christian proceeds
with Hypocrisy and Formalist to the foot of Difficulty Hill, where three paths
join and they must make a choice. One path goes straight ahead up the steep
slope of the hill; another goes around the base of the hill to the right; the
third, around the hill to the left. Christian argues that the right path is the
one leading straight ahead up Difficulty Hill. Not liking the prospect of much
exertion, Formalist and Hypocrisy decide to take the easier way on the level
paths going around the hill. Both get lost and perish. Halfway up Difficulty
Hill, so steep in places that he has to inch forward on hands and knees,
Christian comes to a pleasant arbor provided for the comfort of weary Pilgrims.
Sitting down to rest, Christian reaches into his blouse and takes out his
precious Roll. While reading it, he drops off to sleep, being awakened when he
hears a voice saying sternly: "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her
ways, and be wise." Jumping up, Christian makes with all speed to the top
of the hill, where he meets two Pilgrims coming toward him — Timorous and
Mistrust. They have been up ahead, they say, and there are lions there. They
are giving up their pilgrimage and returning home, and unsuccessfully try to
persuade Christian to come with them. Their report about the lions disturbs
Christian, who reaches into his blouse to get his Roll so that he may read it
and be comforted. To his consternation, the Roll is not there. Carefully
searching along the way, Christian retraces his steps to the arbor, where, as
he recalls, he had been reading the Roll when he allowed himself to doze off in
"sinful sleep." Not finding his treasure immediately, he sits down
and weeps, considering himself utterly undone by his carelessness in losing
"his pass into the Celestial City." When in deepest despair, he
chances to see something lying half-covered in the grass. It is his precious
Roll, which he tucks away securely in his blouse. Having offered a prayer of
thanks "to God for directing his eye to the place where it lay," Christian
wearily climbs back to the top of Difficulty Hill. From there he sees a stately
building and as it is getting on toward dark, hastens there. Palace Beautiful. A narrow path leads
off the Holy Way to the lodge in front of Palace Beautiful. Starting up the
path, Christian sees two lions, stops, and turns around as if to retreat. The
porter at the lodge, Watchful, who has been observing him, calls out that there
is nothing to be afraid of if one has faith. The lions are chained, one on
either side of the path, and anyone with faith can pass safely between them if
he keeps carefully to the middle of the path, which Christian does. Arriving at
the lodge, he asks if he can get lodging for the night. The porter, Watchful,
replies that he will find out from those in charge of Palace Beautiful. Soon,
four virgins come out to the lodge, all of them "grave and beautiful
damsels": Discretion, Prudence, Piety, and Charity. Satisfied with
Christian's answers to their questions, they invite him in, introduce him to
the rest of the family, serve him supper, and assign him to a beautiful bedroom
— Peace — for the night. Next morning, the virgins show him the
"rarities" of the place: First, the library, filled with ancient
documents dating back to the beginning of time; next, the armory, packed with
swords, shields, helmets, breastplates, and other things sufficient to equip
all servants of the Lord, even if they were as numerous as the stars in the
sky. Leading their guest to the roof of the palace, the virgins point to
mountains in the distance — the Delectable Mountains, which lie on the way to
the Celestial City. Before allowing Christian to depart, the virgins give him
arms and armor to protect himself during the next stretch of his journey, which
they warn will be dangerous. Valley of
Humiliation. Here Christian is attacked and almost overcome by a
"foul fiend" named Apollyon — a hideous monster with scales like a
fish, wings like a dragon, mouth like a lion, and feet like a bear; flames and
smoke belch out of a hole in his belly. Christian, after a painful struggle,
wounds the fiend with his sword and drives him off. Valley of the Shadow of Death. This is a wilderness, a land of
deserts and pits, inhabited only by yowling hobgoblins and other dreadful
creatures. The path here is very narrow, edged on one side by a deep,
water-filled ditch in which many have drowned; on the other side, by a
treacherous bog. Walking carefully, Christian goes on and soon finds himself
close to the open mouth of Hell, the Burning Pit, out of which comes a cloud of
noxious fumes, long fingers of fire, showers of sparks, and hideous noises.
With flames flickering all around and smoke almost choking him, Christian
manages to get through by use of "All-prayer." Nearing the end of the
valley, he hears a shout raised by someone up ahead: "Though I walk
through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear none ill, for Thou art
with me." As only a Pilgrim could have raised that cry, Christian hastens
forward to see who it might be. To his surprise and delight he finds that it is
an old friend, Faithful, one of his neighbors in the City of Destruction. Vanity Fair. Happily journeying
together, exchanging stories about their adventures and misadventures, the two
Pilgrims come to the town of Vanity Fair, through which they must pass.
Interested only in commerce and money-making, the town holds a year-round fair
at which all kinds of things are bought and sold — "houses, lands, trades,
titles, . . . lusts, pleasures, . . . bodies, souls, silver, gold, pearls,
precious stones, and what not." Christian and Faithful infuriate the
merchandisers by turning up their noses at the wares offered them, saying that
they would buy nothing but the Truth. Their presence and their attitude cause a
hubbub in the town, which leads the authorities to jail them for disturbing the
peace. The prisoners conduct themselves so well that they win the sympathy of
many townspeople, producing more strife and commotion in the streets, and the
prisoners are held responsible for this, too, though they have done nothing. It
is decided to indict them on the charge of disrupting trade, creating
dissension, and treating with contempt the customs and laws laid down for the
town by its prince, old Beelzebub himself. Brought to trial first, Faithful is
convicted and sentenced to be executed in the manner prescribed by the
presiding judge, Lord Hate-good. The hapless Faithful is scourged, brutally
beaten, lanced with knives, stoned, and then burned to ashes at the stake.
Thus, he becomes another of the Christian martyrs assured of enjoying eternal
bliss up on high. Doubting Castle and
Giant Despair. In a manner only vaguely explained, Christian gets free
and goes on his way — but not alone, for he has been joined by Hopeful, a
native of Vanity Fair who is fleeing in search of better things. After a few
minor adventures, the two reach a sparkling stream, the River of the Water of
Life, which meanders through beautiful meadows bright with flowers. For a time
the Holy Way follows the river bank but then veers off into rougher ground
which is hard on the sore tired feet of the travelers. Wishing there were an
easier way, they plod along until they come to another meadow behind a high
fence. Having climbed the fence to have a look, Christian persuades Hopeful
that they should move over into By-path Meadow, where there is a soft grassy
path paralleling theirs. Moving along, they catch up with Vain-confidence, who
says that he is bound for the Celestial City and knows the way perfectly. Night
comes on, but he continues to push ahead briskly, with Christian and Hopeful
following. Suddenly, the latter hear a frightened cry and a loud thud.
Vain-confidence has been dashed to pieces by falling into a deep pit dug by the
owner of the meadow. Christian and Hopeful retreat, but as they can see nothing
in the dark, they decide to lie down in the meadow to pass the night. Next
morning, they are surprised and seized by the prince of By-path Meadow, a giant
named Despair. Charging them with malicious trespassing, he hauls them to his
stronghold, Doubting Castle, and throws them into a deep dark dungeon, where
they lie for days without food or drink. At length, Giant Despair appears,
beats them almost senseless, and advises them to take their own lives so that
he will not have to come back to finish them off himself. When all seems
hopeless, Christian suddenly brightens up, "as one half amazed," and
exclaims: "What a fool am I, thus to lie in a stinking dungeon when I may
as well walk at liberty. I have a key in my bosom called Promise which will (I
am persuaded) open any lock in Doubting Castle." Finding that the magic
key works, the prisoners are soon out in the open and running as fast as they
can to get back onto the Holy Way, where they erect a sign warning other Pilgrims
against being tempted by the apparent ease of traveling by way of By-path
Meadow. Delectable Mountains. Christian
and Hopeful next come to the Delectable Mountains, where they find gardens,
orchards, vineyards, and fountains of water. Four shepherds — Experience,
Knowledge, Watchful, and Sincere — come to greet them, telling them that the
mountains are the Lord's, as are the flocks of sheep grazing there. Having been
escorted around the mountains and shown the sights there, the two Pilgrims on
the eve of their departure receive from the shepherds a paper instructing them
on what to do and what to avoid on the journey ahead. For one thing, they
should not lie down and sleep in the Enchanted Ground, for that would be fatal.
Country of Beulah. This is a
happy land where the sun shines day and night, flowers bloom continuously, and
the sweet and pleasant air is filled with bird-song. There is no lack of grain
and wine. Christian and Hopeful stop to rest and enjoy themselves here, pleased
that the Celestial City is now within sight, which leads them to assume that
the way there is now clear. Dark River.
Proceeding, they are amazed when they come to the Dark River, a wide,
swift-flowing stream. They look around for a bridge or boat on which to cross.
A Shining One appears and tells them that they must make their way across as
best they can, that fording the river is a test of faith, that those with faith
have nothing to fear. Wading into the river, Hopeful finds firm footing, but
Christian does not He is soon floundering in water over his head, fearing that
he will be drowned, that he will never see "the land that flows with milk
and honey." Hopeful helps Christian by holding his head above water, and
the two finally achieve the crossing. Celestial
City. On the far side of the river, two Shining Ones are waiting for the
Pilgrims and take them by the arm to assist them in climbing the steep slope to
the Celestial City, which stands on a "mighty hill . . . higher than the
clouds." Coming to the gate of the city, built all of precious stones,
Christian and Hopeful present their credentials, which are taken to the King
(God). He orders the gate to be opened, and the two weary but elated Pilgrims
go in, to find that the streets are paved with gold and that along them walk
many men with crowns on their heads and golden harps in their hands.
Blackburn’s drawing. Blackburn's
"one-off predicament" of communicating without a shared language
illustrates how Grice's theory can be applied to iconic signals such as the
drawing of a skull to wam of danger. See his Spreading the Word. III. 112.
bonum: Old Romans did not have an article, so for them it is
unum, bonum, verum, and pulchrum. They were trying to translate the very
articled Grecian things, ‘to agathon,’ ‘to alethes,’ and ‘to kallon.’ The three
references given by Liddell and Scott are good ones. τὸ ἀ., the good,
Epich.171.5, cf. Pl.R.506b, 508e, Arist.Metaph.1091a31, etc. The Grecian Grice
is able to return to the ‘article’. Grice has an early essay on ‘the good,’ and
he uses the same expression at Oxford for the Locke lectures when looking for a
‘desiderative’ equivalent to ‘the true.’ Hare had dedicated the full part of
his “Language of Morals” to ‘good,’ so Grice is well aware of the centrality of
the topic. He was irritated by what he called a performatory approach to the
good, where ‘x is good’ =df. ‘I approve of x.’ Surely that’s a conversational
implicatum. However, in his analysis of reasoning (the demonstratum – since he
uses the adverb ‘demonstrably’ as a marker of pretty much like ‘concusively,’
as applied to both credibility and desirability, we may focus on what Grice
sees as ‘bonum’ as one of the ‘absolutes,’ the absolute in the desirability
realm, as much as the ‘verum’ is the absolute in the credibility realm. Grice
has an excellent argument regarding ‘good.’ His example is ‘cabbage,’ but also
‘sentence.’ Grice’s argument is to turn the disimpicatum into an explicitum. To
know what a ‘cabbage,’ or a formula is, you need to know first what a ‘good’
cabbage is or a ‘well-formed formula,’ is. An ill-formed sentence is not deemed
by Grice a sentence. This means that we define ‘x’ as ‘optimum x.’ This is not
so strange, seeing that ‘optimum’ is actually the superlative of ‘bonum’ (via
the comparative). It does not require very
sharp eyes, but only the willingness to use the eyes one has, to see that our
speech and thought are permeated with the notion of purpose; to say what a
certain kind of thing is is only too frequently partly to say what it is for.
This feature applies to our talk and thought of, for example, ships, shoes,
sealing wax, and kings; and, possibly and perhaps most excitingly, it extends
even to cabbages.“There is a range of cases in which, so far from its
being the case that, typically, one first learns what it is to be a F and then,
at the next stage, learns what criteria distinguish a good F from a F which is
less good, or not good at all, one needs first to learn what it is to be a good
F, and then subsequently to learn what degree of approximation to being a good
F will qualify an item as a F; if the gap between some item x and good Fs is
sufficently horrendous, x is debarred from counting as a F at all, even as a
bad F.”“In the John Locke Lectures, I called a concept which exhibits this feature
as a ‘value-paradeigmatic’ concept. One example of a value-paradeigmatic
concept is the concept of reasoning; another, I now suggest, is that of
sentence. It may well be that the existence of value-oriented concepts (¢b ¢ 2
. • • . ¢n) depends on the prior existence of pre-rational concepts ( ¢~, ¢~ . . . . ¢~), such that an item x
qualifies for the application of the concept ¢ 2 if and only if x satisfies a rationally-approved form or version of
the corresponding pre-rational concept ¢'. We have a (primary) example of a
step in reasoning only if we have a transition of a certain rationally approved kind from one
thought or utterance to another.
bootstrap: a principle introduced by Grice in “Prejudices and
predilections; which become, the life and opinions of H. P. Grice,” to limit
the power of the meta-language. The weaker your metalanguage the easier you’ll
be able to pull yourself by your own bootstraps. He uses bootlaces in
“Metaphysics, Philosophical Eschatology, and Plato’s Republic.”
byzantine. How Byzantine can Grice feel. Does feeling Byzantine
entail a feeling of BEING Byzantine? originally used of the style of art and architecture developed there
4c.-5c. C.E.; later in reference to the complex, devious, and intriguing
character of the royal court of Constantinople (1937). Bȳzantĭum , ii, n., = Βυζάντιον,I.a city in Thrace, on the Bosphorus, opposite the Asiatic Chalcedon, later
Constantinopolis, now Constantinople; among
the Turks, Istamboul or Stamboul (i.e. εις τὴν πόλιν), Mel. 2, 2, 6; Plin. 4, 11, 18, § 46; 9, 15, 20, § 50 sq.; Nep. Paus. 2, 2; Liv. 38, 16, 3 sq.; Tac. A. 12, 63 sq.; id. H. 2. 83; 3, 47 al.—II. Derivv.A. Bȳzantĭus , a, um, adj., of Byzantium, Byzantine: “litora,” the Strait of Constantinople, Ov. Tr. 1, 10, 31: “portus,” Plin. 9, 15, 20, § 51.—Subst.: Bȳ-zantĭi , ōrum, m., the inhabitants of Byzantium, Cic. Prov. Cons. 3, 5; 4, 6 sq.; Cic. Verr. 2, 2, 31, § 76; Nep. Timoth. 1, 2; Liv. 32, 33, 7.—B. Bȳzantĭăcus , a, um, adj., of Byzantium: “lacerti,” Stat. S. 4, 9, 13. — C. Bȳzantīnus , a, um, adj., the
same (post-class.): “Lygos,” Aus. Clar. Urb. 2: “frigora,” Sid. Ep. 7, 17.
captainship. Strawson calls
Grice his captain. In the inaugural lecture. . A struggle on what seems to be such a From Meaning and Truth (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1970) TRUTH AND MEANING central issue in philosophy
should have something of a Homeric quality; and a Homeric struggle calls for
gods and heroes. I can at least, though tentatively, name some living captains
and benevolent shades: on the one side, say, Grice, Austin, and the later
Wittgenstein; on the other, Chomsky, Frege, and the earlier Wittgenstein.
category of
conversational mode: a pun on
Aristkant’s Kategorie (Ammonius, tropos, Boëthius, modus, Kant Modalitat). Gesichtspuncte der Modalität in assertorische, apodiktische
und problematische hat sich aus der Aristotelischen Eintheilung hervorgebildet
(Anal. Dr. 1, 2): 7@ợc gócois atv n 100 incozy h kỹ kvayxns Úndozav û toù
{VJÉZEo fai Úndozev: Doch geht diese Aristotelische Stelle vielmehr auf die
analogen objectiven Verhältnisse, als auf den subjectiven Gewissheitsgrad. Der
Zusatz Svvatóv, įvsezóuevov, és åviyans, jedoch auch eine adverbiale Bestimmung
wie taméws in dem Satze ý σελήνη ταχέως αποκαθίσταται, heisst bei Ammonius
τρόπος (zu περί ερμ. Cap. 12) und bei Boëthius modus. Kant (Kritik der r. Vern.
§ 9-11; Prolegom. $ 21, Log. § 30) gründet die Eintheilung nach der Modalität
auf die modalen Kategorien: Möglichkeit und Unmöglichkeit, Dasein und
Nichtsein, Nothwendigkeit und Zufälligkeit, wobei jedoch die Zusammenstellung
der Unmöglichkeit, die eine negative Nothwendigkeit ist, mit der Möglichkeit,
und ebenso der Zufälligkeit, die das nicht als nothwendig erkannte Dasein
bezeichnet, mit der Nothwendigkeit eine Ungenauigkeit enthält: die Erkenntniss
der Unmöglichkeit ist nicht ein problematisches, sondern ein (negativ-)
apodiktisches Urtheil (was Kant in der Anwendung selbst anerkennt, indem er z.
B. Krit. der r. V. S. 191 die Formel: es ist unmöglich etc. als Ausdruck einer
apodiktischen Gewissheit betrachtet), und die Erkenntniss des Zufälligen ist
nicht ein apodiktisches, sondern ein assertorisches Urtheil. Ausserdem aber hat
Kant das subjective und objective Element in den Kategorien der Qualität und
Modalität nicht bestimmt genug unterschieden.
category of
conversational quality: a pun on
Aristkan’s Kategorie, poiotes, qualitas, Qualitat. Expressions which
are in no way composite signify substance, quantity, quality, relation, place,
time, position, state, action, or affection. To sketch my meaning roughly,
examples of substance are 'man' or 'the horse', of quantity, such terms as 'two
cubits long' or 'three cubits long', of quality, such attributes as 'white',
'grammatical'.
category of
conversational quantity: ua pun on
Ariskant’s Kategorie, posotes, quantitas, Quantitat. Expressions
which are in no way composite signify substance, quantity, quality, relation,
place, time, position, state, action, or affection. To sketch my meaning
roughly, examples of substance are 'man' or 'the horse', of quantity, such
terms as 'two cubits long' or 'three cubits long'
category of
conversational relation: a pun on
Ariskant’s Kategorie (pros ti, ad aliquid, Relation). Expressions
which are in no way composite signify substance, quantity, quality, relation,
place, time, position, state, action, or affection. To sketch my meaning
roughly, examples of substance are 'man' or 'the horse', of quantity, such
terms as 'two cubits long' or 'three cubits long', of quality, such attributes
as 'white', 'grammatical'. 'Double', 'half', 'greater', fall under the category
of relation.
causatum: causation figures large in Grice, notably re: the
perceptum. The agent perceives that the pillar box is red. The cause is that
the pillar box is red. Out of that, Grice constructs a whole theory of
conversation. Why would someone just report what a THING SEEMS to him when he
has no doubt that it was THE THING that caused the thing to SEEM red to him?
Applying some sort of helpfulness, it works: the addressee is obviously more
interested in what the thing IS, not what it seems. A sense-datum is not
something you can eat. An apple is. So, the assumption is that a report of what
a thing IS is more relevant than a report about what a thing SEEMS. So, Grice needs to find a rationale that
justifies, ceteris paribus, the utterance of “The thing seems phi.” Following
helpfulness, U utters “The thing seems phi” when the U is not in a position to
say what the thing IS phi. The denial, “The thing is not phi” is in the air,
and also the doubt, “The thing may not be phi.” Most without a philosophical
background who do not take Grice’s joke of echoing Kant’s categories (Kant had
12, not 4!) play with quantitas, qualitas, relatio and modus. Grice in “Causal”
uses ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ but grants he won’t ‘determine’ in what way ‘the thing
seems phi’ is ‘weaker’ than ‘the thing is phi.’ It might well be argued that
it’s STRONGER: the thing SEEEMS TO BE phi.’ In the previous “Introduction to
Logical Theory,” Strawson just refers to Grice’s idea of a ‘pragmatic rule’ to
the effect that one utter the LOGICALLY stronger proposition. Let’s revise
dates. Whereas Grice says that his confidence in the success of “Causal,” he
ventured with Strawson’s “Intro,” Strawson is citing Grice already. Admittedly,
Strawson adds, “in a different context.” But Grice seems pretty sure that “The
thing seems phi” is WEAKER than “The thing is phi.” In 1961 he is VERY CLEAR
that while what he may have said to Strawson that Strawson reported in that footnote
was in terms of LOGICAL STRENGTH (in terms of entailment, for extensional
contexts). In “Causal,” Grice is clear that he does not think LOGICAL STRENGTH
applies to intensional contexts. In later revisions, it is not altogether clear
how he deals with the ‘doubt or denial.’ He seems to have been more interested
in refuting G. A. Paul (qua follower of Witters) than anything else. In his
latest reformulation of the principle, now a conversational category, he is not
specific about phenomenalist reports.
ceteris paribus. Strawson and Wiggins: that the principle holds ceteris paribus is a
necessary condition for the very existence of the activity in question. Central.
chiliagon: referred to by Grice in “Some remarks about the
senses.’ In geometry, a chiliagon, or
1000-gon is a polygon with 1,000 sides. Philosophers commonly refer
to chiliagons to illustrate ideas about the nature and workings of thought,
meaning, and mental representation. A
chiliagon is a regular chiliagon Polygon 1000.svg A regular chiliagon Type
Regular polygon Edges and vertices 1000 Schläfli symbol {1000}, t{500},
tt{250}, ttt{125} Coxeter diagram CDel node 1.pngCDel 10.pngCDel 0x.pngCDel
0x.pngCDel node.png CDel node 1.pngCDel 5.pngCDel 0x.pngCDel 0x.pngCDel node
1.png Symmetry group Dihedral (D1000), order 2×1000 Internal angle (degrees)
179.64° Dual polygon Self Properties Convex, cyclic, equilateral, isogonal,
isotoxal A whole regular chiliagon is not visually discernible from a
circle. The lower section is a portion of a regular chiliagon, 200 times as
large as the smaller one, with the vertices highlighted. In geometry, a
chiliagon (/ˈkɪliəɡɒn/) or 1000-gon is a polygon with 1,000 sides. Philosophers
commonly refer to chiliagons to illustrate ideas about the nature and workings
of thought, meaning, and mental representation. Contents 1 Regular
chiliagon 2 Philosophical application 3 Symmetry 4 Chiliagram 5 See also 6
References Regular chiliagon A regular chiliagon is represented by Schläfli
symbol {1,000} and can be constructed as a truncated 500-gon, t{500}, or a
twice-truncated 250-gon, tt{250}, or a thrice-truncated 125-gon, ttt{125}.
The measure of each internal angle in a regular chiliagon is 179.64°. The area
of a regular chiliagon with sides of length a is given by {\displaystyle
A=250a^{2}\cot {\frac {\pi }{1000}}\simeq 79577.2\,a^{2}}A=250a^{2}\cot
{\frac {\pi }{1000}}\simeq 79577.2\,a^{2} This result differs from the
area of its circumscribed circle by less than 4 parts per million.
Because 1,000 = 23 × 53, the number of sides is neither a product of distinct
Fermat primes nor a power of two. Thus the regular chiliagon is not a constructible
polygon. Indeed, it is not even constructible with the use of neusis or an
angle trisector, as the number of sides is neither a product of distinct
Pierpont primes, nor a product of powers of two and three. Philosophical
application René Descartes uses the chiliagon as an example in his Sixth
Meditation to demonstrate the difference between pure intellection and
imagination. He says that, when one thinks of a chiliagon, he "does not
imagine the thousand sides or see them as if they were present" before him
– as he does when one imagines a triangle, for example. The imagination
constructs a "confused representation," which is no different from
that which it constructs of a myriagon (a polygon with ten thousand sides).
However, he does clearly understand what a chiliagon is, just as he understands
what a triangle is, and he is able to distinguish it from a myriagon.
Therefore, the intellect is not dependent on imagination, Descartes claims, as
it is able to entertain clear and distinct ideas when imagination is unable to.
Philosopher Pierre Gassendi, a contemporary of Descartes, was critical of this
interpretation, believing that while Descartes could imagine a chiliagon, he
could not understand it: one could "perceive that the word 'chiliagon' signifies
a figure with a thousand angles [but] that is just the meaning of the term, and
it does not follow that you understand the thousand angles of the figure any
better than you imagine them."[2] The example of a chiliagon is also
referenced by other philosophers, such as Immanuel Kant. David Hume points out
that it is "impossible for the eye to determine the angles of a chiliagon
to be equal to 1996 right angles, or make any conjecture, that approaches this
proportion."[4] Gottfried Leibniz comments on a use of the chiliagon by
John Locke, noting that one can have an idea of the polygon without having an
image of it, and thus distinguishing ideas from images. Henri Poincaré uses the
chiliagon as evidence that "intuition is not necessarily founded on the evidence
of the senses" because "we can not represent to ourselves a
chiliagon, and yet we reason by intuition on polygons in general, which include
the chiliagon as a particular case." Inspired by Descartes's chiliagon example,
Grice, R. M. Chisholm and other 20th-century philosophers have used similar
examples to make similar points. Chisholm's ‘speckled hen,’ which need not have
a determinate number of speckles to be successfully imagined, is perhaps the
most famous of these. Symmetry The symmetries of a regular chiliagon.
Light blue lines show subgroups of index 2. The 4 boxed subgraphs are
positionally related by index 5 subgroups. The regular chiliagon has Dih1000
dihedral symmetry, order 2000, represented by 1,000 lines of reflection. Dih100
has 15 dihedral subgroups: Dih500, Dih250, Dih125, Dih200, Dih100, Dih50,
Dih25, Dih40, Dih20, Dih10, Dih5, Dih8, Dih4, Dih2, and Dih1. It also has 16
more cyclic symmetries as subgroups: Z1000, Z500, Z250, Z125, Z200, Z100, Z50,
Z25, Z40, Z20, Z10, Z5, Z8, Z4, Z2, and Z1, with Zn representing π/n radian
rotational symmetry. John Conway labels these lower symmetries with a
letter and order of the symmetry follows the letter.[8] He gives d (diagonal)
with mirror lines through vertices, p with mirror lines through edges
(perpendicular), i with mirror lines through both vertices and edges, and g for
rotational symmetry. a1 labels no symmetry. These lower symmetries allow
degrees of freedom in defining irregular chiliagons. Only the g1000 subgroup
has no degrees of freedom but can be seen as directed edges. Chiliagram A
chiliagram is a 1,000-sided star polygon. There are 199 regular forms[9] given
by Schläfli symbols of the form {1000/n}, where n is an integer between 2 and
500 that is coprime to 1,000. There are also 300 regular star figures in the
remaining cases. For example, the regular {1000/499} star polygon is
constructed by 1000 nearly radial edges. Each star vertex has an internal angle
of 0.36 degrees.[10] {1000/499} Star polygon 1000-499.svg Star polygon 1000-499
center.png Central area with moiré patterns See also Myriagon Megagon
Philosophy of Mind Philosophy of Language References Meditation VI by
Descartes (English translation). Sepkoski, David (2005). "Nominalism
and constructivism in seventeenth-century mathematical philosophy".
Historia Mathematica. 32: 33–59. doi:10.1016/j.hm.2003.09.002. Immanuel
Kant, "On a Discovery," trans. Henry Allison, in Theoretical
Philosophy After 1791, ed. Henry Allison and Peter Heath, Cambridge UP, 2002
[Akademie 8:121]. Kant does not actually use a chiliagon as his example,
instead using a 96-sided figure, but he is responding to the same question
raised by Descartes. David Hume, The Philosophical Works of David Hume,
Volume 1, Black and Tait, 1826, p. 101. Jonathan Francis Bennett (2001),
Learning from Six Philosophers: Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley,
Hume, Volume 2, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0198250924, p. 53. Henri
Poincaré (1900) "Intuition and Logic in Mathematics" in William Bragg
Ewald (ed) From Kant to Hilbert: A Source Book in the Foundations of
Mathematics, Volume 2, Oxford University Press, 2007, ISBN 0198505361, p.
1015. Roderick Chisholm, "The Problem of the Speckled Hen",
Mind 51 (1942): pp. 368–373. "These problems are all descendants of
Descartes's 'chiliagon' argument in the sixth of his Meditations" (Joseph
Heath, Following the Rules: Practical Reasoning and Deontic Constraint, Oxford:
OUP, 2008, p. 305, note 15). The Symmetries of Things, Chapter 20
199 = 500 cases − 1 (convex) − 100 (multiples of 5) − 250 (multiples of 2) + 50
(multiples of 2 and 5) 0.36 = 180 (1 - 2 /(1000 / 499) ) = 180 ( 1 – 998 /
1000 ) = 180 ( 2 / 1000 ) = 180 / 500 chiliagon vte Polygons (List) Triangles
Acute Equilateral Ideal IsoscelesObtuseRight Quadrilaterals Antiparallelogram Bicentric
CyclicEquidiagonalEx-tangentialHarmonic Isosceles
trapezoidKiteLambertOrthodiagonal Parallelogram Rectangle Right kite Rhombus Saccheri
SquareTangentialTangential trapezoidTrapezoid By number of sides Monogon
(1) Digon (2) Triangle (3) Quadrilateral (4) Pentagon (5) Hexagon (6) Heptagon
(7) Octagon (8) Nonagon (Enneagon, 9) Decagon (10) Hendecagon (11) Dodecagon
(12) Tridecagon (13) Tetradecagon (14) Pentadecagon (15) Hexadecagon (16) Heptadecagon
(17) Octadecagon (18) Enneadecagon (19)Icosagon (20)Icosihenagon [de]
(21)Icosidigon (22) Icositetragon (24) Icosihexagon (26) Icosioctagon (28) Triacontagon
(30) Triacontadigon (32) Triacontatetragon (34) Tetracontagon (40) Tetracontadigon
(42)Tetracontaoctagon (48)Pentacontagon (50) Pentacontahenagon [de] (51) Hexacontagon
(60) Hexacontatetragon (64) Heptacontagon (70)Octacontagon (80) Enneacontagon
(90) Enneacontahexagon (96) Hectogon (100) 120-gon257-gon360-gonChiliagon
(1000) Myriagon (10000) 65537-gonMegagon (1000000) 4294967295-gon [ru;
de]Apeirogon (∞) Star polygons Pentagram Hexagram Heptagram Octagram Enneagram Decagram
Hendecagram Dodecagram Classes Concave Convex Cyclic Equiangular Equilateral Isogonal
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communicatum: One who likes ‘communication’ is refined Strawson
(I’m using refined as J. Barnes does it, “turn Plato into refined Strawson”).
Both in his rat-infested example and at the inaugural lecture at Oxford. Grice,
for one, has given us reason to think that, with sufficient care, and far
greater refinement than I have indicated, it is possible to expound such a
concept of communication-intention or, as he calls it, utterer's meaning, which
is proof against objection. it is a
commonplace that Grice belongs, as most philosophers of the twentieth century,
to the movement of the linguistic turn. Short and Lewis have “commūnĭcare,”
earlier “conmunicare,” f. communis, and thus sharing the prefix with
“conversare.” Now “communis” is an interesting lexeme that Grice uses quite
centrally in his idea of the ‘common ground’ – when a feature of discourse is
deemed to have been assigned ‘common-ground status.’ “Communis” features the
“cum-” prefix, commūnis (comoinis); f. “con” and root “mu-,” to bind; Sanscr.
mav-; cf.: immunis, munus, moenia. The ‘communicatum’ (as used by Tammelo
in social philosophy) may well cover
what Grice would call the total ‘significatio,’ or ‘significatum.’ Grice takes
this seriously. Let us start then by examining what we mean by ‘linguistic,’ or
‘communication.’ It is curious that while most Griceians overuse
‘communicative’ as applied to ‘intention,’ Grice does not. Communicator’s
intention, at most. This is the Peirce in Grice’s soul. Meaning provides an
excellent springboard for Grice to centre his analysis on psychological or
soul-y verbs as involving the agent and the first person: smoke only
figuratively means fire, and the expression smoke only figuratively (or
metabolically) means that there is fire. It is this or that utterer (say,
Grice) who means, say, by uttering Where theres smoke theres fire, or ubi
fumus, ibi ignis, that where theres smoke theres fire. A means something
by uttering x, an utterance-token is roughly equivalent to utterer U intends
the utterance of x to produce some effect in his addressee A by means of the
recognition of this intention; and we may add that to ask what U means is to
ask for a specification of the intended effect - though, of course, it may not
always be possible to get a straight answer involving a that-clause, for
example, a belief that He does provide a
more specific example involving the that-clause at a later stage. By uttering
x, U means that-ψb-dp ≡ (Ǝφ)(Ǝf)(Ǝc) U
utters x intending x to be such that anyone who
has φ think that x has f, f is correlated in way c
with ψ-ing that p, and (Ǝφ') U intends x to be such
that anyone who has φ' think, via thinking that x has
f and that f is correlated in way c with ψ-ing that p, that U ψ-s that
p, and in view of (Ǝφ') U intending x to be such
that anyone who has φ' think, via thinking that x has
f, and f is correlated in way c with ψ-ing that p, that U ψ-s that
p, U ψ-s that p, and, for some
substituends of ψb-d, U utters x
intending that, should there actually be anyone who
has φ, he will, via thinking in view of (Ǝφ') U
intending x to be such that anyone who has φ' think, via
thinking that x has f, and f is correlated in way c
with ψ-ing that p, that U ψ-s that p, U ψ-s that
p himself ψ that p, and it is not
the case that, for some inference element E, U intends x to be such
that anyone who has φ both rely on E in coming to ψ, or think that U ψ-s, that p and think that (Ǝφ) U intends x to be
such that anyone who has φ come to ψ (or think that U ψ-s) that
p without relying on E. Besides St. John The Baptist, and Salome, Grice
cites few Namess in Meaning. But he makes a point about Stevenson! For
Stevenson, smoke means fire. Meaning develops out of an interest by Grice on
the philosophy of Peirce. In his essays on Peirce, Grice quotes from many other
authors, including, besides Peirce himself (!), Ogden, Richards, and Ewing, or
A. C. Virtue is not a fire-shovel Ewing, as Grice calls him, and this or that
cricketer. In the characteristic Oxonian fashion of a Lit. Hum., Grice has no
intention to submit Meaning to publication. Publishing is vulgar. Bennett,
however, guesses that Grice decides to publish it just a year after his Defence
of a dogma. Bennett’s argument is that Defence of a dogma pre-supposes some
notion of meaning. However, a different story may be told, not necessarily
contradicting Bennetts. It is Strawson who submits the essay by Grice to The
Philosophical Review (henceforth, PR) Strawson attends Grices talk on Meaning
for The Oxford Philosophical Society, and likes it. Since In defence of a dogma
was co-written with Strawson, the intention Bennett ascribes to Grice is
Strawsons. Oddly, Strawson later provides a famous alleged counter-example to
Grice on meaning in Intention and convention in speech acts, following J. O.
Urmson’s earlier attack to the sufficiency of Grices analysans -- which has
Grice dedicating a full James lecture (No. 5) to it. there is Strawsons
rat-infested house for which it is insufficient. An interesting fact,
that confused a few, is that Hart quotes from Grices Meaning in his critical
review of Holloway for The Philosophical Quarterly. Hart quotes Grice
pre-dating the publication of Meaning. Harts point is that Holloway should have
gone to Oxford! In Meaning, Grice may be seen as a practitioner of
ordinary-language philosophy: witness his explorations of the factivity (alla
know, remember, or see) or lack thereof of various uses of to mean. The second
part of the essay, for which he became philosophically especially popular,
takes up an intention-based approach to semantic notions. The only authority
Grice cites, in typical Oxonian fashion, is, via Ogden and Barnes, Stevenson,
who, from The New World (and via Yale, too!) defends an emotivist theory of
ethics, and making a few remarks on how to mean is used, with scare quotes, in
something like a causal account (Smoke means fire.). After its publication
Grices account received almost as many alleged counterexamples as rule-utilitarianism
(Harrison), but mostly outside Oxford, and in The New World. New-World
philosophers seem to have seen Grices attempt as reductionist and as
oversimplifying. At Oxford, the sort of counterexample Grice received, before
Strawson, was of the Urmson-type: refined, and subtle. I think your account
leaves bribery behind. On the other hand, in the New World ‒ in what Grice
calls the Latter-Day School of Nominalism, Quine is having troubles with
empiricism. Meaning was repr. in various collections, notably in Philosophical
Logic, ed. by Strawson. It should be remembered that it is Strawson who has the
thing typed and submitted for publication. Why Meaning should be repr. in a
collection on Philosophical Logic only Strawson knows. But Grice does say that
his account may help clarify the meaning of entails! It may be Strawsons
implicature that Parkinson should have repr. (and not merely credited) Meaning
by Grice in his series for Oxford on The theory of meaning. The preferred
quotation for Griceians is of course The Oxford Philosophical Society quote, seeing
that Grice recalled the exact year when he gave the talk for the Philosophical
Society at Oxford! It is however, the publication in The Philosophi, rather
than the quieter evening at the Oxford Philosophical Society, that occasioned a
tirade of alleged counter-examples by New-World philosophers. Granted, one or
two Oxonians ‒ Urmson and Strawson ‒ fell in! Urmson criticises the sufficiency
of Grices account, by introducing an alleged counter-example involving bribery.
Grice will consider a way out of Urmsons alleged counter-example in his fifth
Wiliam James Lecture, rightly crediting and thanking Urmson for this! Strawsons
alleged counter-example was perhaps slightly more serious, if regressive. It
also involves the sufficiency of Grices analysis. Strawsons rat-infested house
alleged counter-example started a chain which required Grice to avoid,
ultimately, any sneaky intention by way of a recursive clause to the effect
that, for utterer U to have meant that p, all meaning-constitutive intentions
should be above board. But why this obsession by Grice with mean? He is being
funny. Spots surely dont mean, only mean.They dont have a mind. Yet Grice opens
with a specific sample. Those spots mean, to the doctor, that you, dear, have
measles. Mean? Yes, dear, mean, doctors orders. Those spots mean measles. But
how does the doctor know? Cannot he be in the wrong? Not really, mean is
factive, dear! Or so Peirce thought. Grice is amazed that Peirce thought that
some meaning is factive. The hole in this piece of cloth means that a bullet
went through is is one of Peirce’s examples. Surely, as Grice notes, this is an
unhappy example. The hole in the cloth may well have caused by something else,
or fabricated. (Or the postmark means that the letter went through the post.)
Yet, Grice was having Oxonian tutees aware that Peirce was krypto-technical.
Grice chose for one of his pre-Meaning seminars on Peirce’s general theory of
signs, with emphasis on general, and the correspondence of Peirce and Welby.
Peirce, rather than the Vienna circle, becomes, in vein with Grices dissenting
irreverent rationalism, important as a source for Grices attempt to English
Peirce. Grices implicature seems to be that Peirce, rather than Ayer, cared for
the subtleties of meaning and sign, never mind a verificationist theory about
them! Peirce ultra-Latinate-cum-Greek taxonomies have Grice very nervous,
though. He knew that his students were proficient in the classics, but still. Grice
thus proposes to reduce all of Peirceian divisions and sub-divisions (one
sub-division too many) to mean. In the proceedings, he quotes from Ogden,
Richards, and Ewing. In particular, Grice was fascinated by the correspondence of
Peirce with Lady Viola Welby, as repr. by Ogden/Richards in, well, their study
on the meaning of meaning. Grice thought the science of symbolism pretentious,
but then he almost thought Lady Viola Welby slightly pretentious, too, if youve
seen her; beautiful lady. It is via Peirce that Grice explores examples such as
those spots meaning measles. Peirce’s obsession is with weathercocks almost as
Ockham was with circles on wine-barrels. Old-World Grices use of New-World
Peirce is illustrative, thus, of the Oxonian linguistic turn focused on
ordinary language. While Peirce’s background was not philosophical, Grice
thought it comical enough. He would say that Peirce is an amateur, but then he
said the same thing about Mill, whom Grice had to study by heart to get his B.
A. Lit. Hum.! Plus, as Watson commented, what is wrong with amateur? Give me an
amateur philosopher ANY day, if I have to choose from professional Hegel! In
finding Peirce krypo-technical, Grice is ensuing that his tutees, and indeed
any Oxonian philosophy student (he was university lecturer) be aware that to
mean should be more of a priority than this or that jargon by this or that (New
World?) philosopher!? Partly! Grice wanted his students to think on their own,
and draw their own conclusions! Grice cites Ewing, Ogden/Richards, and many
others. Ewing, while Oxford-educated, had ended up at Cambridge (Scruton almost
had him as his tutor) and written some points on Meaninglessness! Those spots
mean measles. Grice finds Peirce krypto-technical and proposes to English him
into an ordinary-language philosopher. Surely it is not important whether we
consider a measles spot a sign, a symbol, or an icon. One might just as well
find a doctor in London who thinks those spots symbolic. If Grice feels like
Englishing Peirce, he does not altogether fail! meaning, reprints, of
Meaning and other essays, a collection of reprints and offprints of Grices
essays. Meaning becomes a central topic of at least two strands in
Retrospective epilogue. The first strand concerns the idea of the centrality of
the utterer. What Grice there calls meaning BY (versus meaning TO), i.e. as he
also puts it, active or agents meaning. Surely he is right in defending an
agent-based account to meaning. Peirce need not, but Grice must, because he is
working with an English root, mean, that is only figurative applicable to
non-agentive items (Smoke means rain). On top, Grice wants to conclude that
only a rational creature (a person) can meanNN properly. Non-human animals may
have a correlate. This is a truly important point for Grice since he surely is
seen as promoting a NON-convention-based approach to meaning, and also
defending from the charge of circularity in the non-semantic account of
propositional attitudes. His final picture is a rationalist one. P1 G
wants to communicate about a danger to P2. This presupposes there IS
a danger (item of reality). Then P1 G believes there is a
danger, and communicates to P2 G2 that there is a danger. This
simple view of conversation as rational co-operation underlies Grices account
of meaning too, now seen as an offshoot of philosophical psychology, and indeed
biology, as he puts it. Meaning as yet another survival mechanism. While he
would never use a cognate like significance in his Oxford Philosophical Society
talk, Grice eventually starts to use such Latinate cognates at a later stage of
his development. In Meaning, Grice does not explain his goal. By sticking with
a root that the Oxford curriculum did not necessarily recognised as
philosophical (amateur Peirce did!), Grice is implicating that he is starting
an ordinary-language botanising on his own repertoire! Grice was amused by the
reliance by Ewing on very Oxonian examples contra Ayer: Surely Virtue aint a
fire-shovel is perfectly meaningful, and if fact true, if, Ill admit, somewhat
misleading and practically purposeless at Cambridge. Again, the dismissal by
Grice of natural meaning is due to the fact that natural meaning prohibits its
use in the first person and followed by a that-clause. ‘I mean-n that p’ sounds
absurd, no communication-function seems in the offing, there is no ‘sign for,’
as Woozley would have it. Grice found, with Suppes, all types of primacy
(ontological, axiological, psychological) in utterers meaning. In Retrospective
epilogue, he goes back to the topic, as he reminisces that it is his
suggestion that there are two allegedly distinguishable meaning concepts, even
if one is meta-bolical, which may be called natural meaning and non-natural
meaning. There is this or that test (notably factivity-entailment vs.
cancelation, but also scare quotes) which may be brought to bear to distinguish
one concept from the other. We may, for example, inquire whether a particular
occurrence of the predicate mean is factive or non-factive, i. e., whether for
it to be true that [so and so] means that p, it does or does not have to be the
case that it is true that p. Again, one may ask whether the use of quotation
marks to enclose the specification of what is meant would be inappropriate or
appropriate. If factivity, as in know, remember, and see, is present and
quotation marks, oratio recta, are be inappropriate, we have a case of natural
meaning. Otherwise the meaning involved is non-natural meaning. We may now ask
whether there is a single overarching idea which lies behind both members of
this dichotomy of uses to which the predicate meaning that seems to be
Subjects. If there is such a central idea it might help to indicate to us which
of the two concepts is in greater need of further analysis and elucidation and
in what direction such elucidation should proceed. Grice confesses that he has
only fairly recently come to believe that there is such an overarching idea and
that it is indeed of some service in the proposed inquiry. The idea behind both
uses of mean is that of consequence, or consequentia, as Hobbes has it. If x
means that p, something which includes p or the idea of p, is a consequence of
x. In the metabolic natural use of meaning that p, p, this or that consequence,
is this or that state of affairs. In the literal, non-metabolic, basic,
non-natural use of meaning that p, (as in Smith means that his neighbour’s
three-year child is an adult), p, this or that consequence is this or that
conception or complexus which involves some other conception. This perhaps
suggests that of the two concepts it is, as it should, non-natural meaning
which is more in need of further elucidation. It seems to be the more
specialised of the pair, and it also seems to be the less determinate. We may,
e. g., ask how this or that conception enters the picture. Or we may ask
whether what enters the picture is the conception itself or its justifiability.
On these counts Grice should look favorably on the idea that, if further
analysis should be required for one of the pair, the notion of non-natural
meaning would be first in line. There are factors which support the suitability
of further analysis for the concept of non-natural meaning. MeaningNN that
p (non-natural meaning) does not look as if it Namess an original feature of
items in the world, for two reasons which are possibly not mutually
independent. One reason is that, given suitable background conditions, meaning,
can be changed by fiat. The second reason is that the presence of meaningNN is
dependent on a framework provided by communication, if that is not too
circular. Communication is in the philosophical lexicon. Lewis and
Short have “commūnĭcātĭo,” f. communicare,"(several times in Cicero,
elsewhere rare), and as they did with negatio and they will with significatio,
Short and Lewis render, unhelpfully, as a making common, imparting,
communicating. largitio et communicatio civitatis;” “quaedam societas et
communicatio utilitatum,” “consilii communicatio, “communicatio sermonis,” criminis
cum pluribus; “communicatio nominum, i. e. the like appellation of several objects;
“juris; “damni; In rhetorics, communicatio, trading on the communis, a figure,
translating Grecian ἀνακοίνωσις, in accordance with which the utterer turns to
his addressee, and, as it were, allows him to take part in the inquiry. It
seems to Grice, then, at least reasonable and possibly even emphatically
mandatory, to treat the claim that a communication vehicle, such as this and
that expression means that p, in this transferred, metaphoric, or meta-bolic
use of means that as being reductively analysable in terms of this or that
feature of this or that utterer, communicator, or user of this or that expression.
The use of meaning that as applied to this or that expression is posterior
to and explicable through the utterer-oriented, or utterer-relativised use,
i.e. involving a reference to this or that communicator or user of this or that
expression. More specifically, one should license a metaphorical use of mean,
where one allows the claim that this or that expression means that p, provided
that this or that utterer, in this or that standard fashion, means that p, i.e.
in terms of this or that souly statee toward this or that propositional
complexus this or that utterer ntends, in a standardly fashion, to produce by
his uttering this or that utterance. That this or that expression means (in
this metaphorical use) that p is thus explicable either in terms of this
or that souly state which is standardly intended to produce in this or that
addressee A by this or that utterer of this or that expression, or in this or
that souly staken up by this or that utterer toward this or that activity or action
of this or that utterer of this or that expression. Meaning was in the air
in Oxfords linguistic turn. Everybody was talking meaning. Grice manages to
quote from Hares early “Mind” essay on the difference between imperatives and
indicatives, also Duncan-Jones on the fugitive proposition, and of course
his beloved Strawson. Grice was also concerned by the fact that in the manoeuvre
of the typical ordinary-language philosopher, there is a constant abuse of
mean. Surely Grice wants to stick with the utterers meaning as the primary use.
Expressions mean only derivatively. To do that, he chose Peirce to see if he
could clarify it with meaning that. Grice knew that the polemic was even
stronger in London, with Ogden and Lady Viola Welby. In the more academic
Oxford milieu, Grice knew that a proper examination of meaning, would lead him,
via Kneale and his researches on the history of semantics, to the topic of
signification that obsessed the modistae (and their modus significandi). For
what does L and S say about about this? This is Grice’s reply to popular Ogden.
They want to know what the meaning of meaning is? Here is the Oxononian
response by Grice, with a vengeance. Grice is not an animist nor a mentalist,
even modest. While he allows for natural phenomena to mean (smoke means
fire), meaning is best ascribed to some utterer, where this meaning is nothing
but the intentions behind his utterance. This is the fifth James lecture.
Grice was careful enough to submit it to PR, since it is a strictly philosophical
development of the views expressed in Meaning which Strawson had submitted on
Grice’s behalf to the same Review and which had had a series of responses by
various philosophers. Among these philosophers is Strawson himself in Intention
and convention in the the theory of speech acts, also in PR. Grice quotes
from very many other philosophers in this essay, including: Urmson,
Stampe, Strawson, Schiffer, and Searle. Strawson is especially
relevant since he started a series of alleged counter-examples with his
infamous example of the rat-infested house. Grice particularly treasured
Stampes alleged counter-example involving his beloved bridge! Avramides earns a
D. Phil Oxon. on that, under Strawson! This is Grices occasion to address
some of the criticisms ‒ in the form of alleged counter-examples,
typically, as his later reflections on epagoge versus diagoge note ‒
by Urmson, Strawson, and other philosophers associated with Oxford, such as
Searle, Stampe, and Schiffer. The final analysandum is pretty complex (of the
type that he did find his analysis of I am hearing a sound complex in Personal
identity ‒ hardly an obstacle for adopting it), it became yet
another target of attack by especially New-World philosophers in the pages of
Mind, Nous, and other journals, This is officially the fifth James lecture.
Grice takes up the analysis of meaning he had presented way back at the Oxford
Philosophical Society. Motivated mainly by the attack by Urmson and by Strawson
in Intention and convention in speech acts, that offered an alleged
counter-example to the sufficiency of Grices analysis, Grice ends up
introducing so many intention that he almost trembled. He ends up seeing
meaning as a value-paradeigmatic concept, perhaps never realisable in a
sublunary way. But it is the analysis in this particular essay where he is at
his formal best. He distinguishes between protreptic and exhibitive utterances,
and also modes of correlation (iconic, conventional). He symbolises the utterer
and the addressee, and generalises over the type of psychological state,
attitude, or stance, meaning seems to range (notably indicative vs.
imperative). He formalises the reflexive intention, and more importantly, the
overtness of communication in terms of a self-referential recursive intention
that disallows any sneaky intention to be brought into the picture of
meaning-constitutive intentions. Grice thought he had dealt with Logic and
conversation enough! So he feels of revising his Meaning. After all, Strawson
had had the cheek to publish Meaning by Grice and then go on to criticize it in
Intention and convention in speech acts. So this is Grices revenge, and he
wins! He ends with the most elaborate theory of mean that an Oxonian could ever
hope for. And to provoke the informalists such as Strawson (and his disciples
at Oxford – led by Strawson) he pours existential quantifiers like the plague!
He manages to quote from Urmson, whom he loved! No word on Peirce, though, who
had originated all this! His implicature: Im not going to be reprimanted in
informal discussion about my misreading Peirce at Harvard! The concluding note
is about artificial substitutes for iconic representation, and meaning as a
human institution. Very grand. This is Grices metabolical projection of
utterers meaning to apply to anything OTHER than utterers meaning, notably a
token of the utterers expression and a TYPE of the utterers expression, wholly
or in part. Its not like he WANTS to do it, he NEEDS it to give an account of
implicatum. The phrase utterer is meant to provoke. Grice thinks that speaker
is too narrow. Surely you can mean by just uttering stuff! This is the
sixth James lecture, as published in “Foundations of Language” (henceforth,
“FL”), or “The foundations of language,” as he preferred. As it happens, it became
a popular lecture, seeing that Searle selected this from the whole set for his
Oxford reading in philosophy on the philosophy of language. It is also the
essay cited by Chomsky in his influential Locke lectures. Chomsky takes
Grice to be a behaviourist, even along Skinners lines, which provoked a reply
by Suppes, repr. in PGRICE. In The New World, the H. P. is often given in a
more simplified form. Grice wants to keep on playing. In Meaning, he had said x
means that p is surely reducible to utterer U means that p. In this lecture, he
lectures us as to how to proceed. In so doing he invents this or that
procedure: some basic, some resultant. When Chomsky reads the reprint in
Searles Philosophy of Language, he cries: Behaviourist! Skinnerian! It was Suppes
who comes to Grices defence. Surely the way Grice uses expressions like
resultant procedure are never meant in the strict behaviourist way. Suppes
concludes that it is much fairer to characterise Grice as an intentionalist.
Published in FL, ed. by Staal, Repr.in Searle, The Philosophy of Language,
Oxford, the sixth James Lecture, FL, resultant procedure, basic
procedure. Staal asked Grice to publish the sixth James lecture for a
newish periodical publication of whose editorial board he was a member. The fun
thing is Grice complied! This is Grices shaggy-dog story. He does not seem too
concerned about resultant procedures. As he will ll later say, surely I can
create Deutero-Esperanto and become its master! For Grice, the primacy is the
idiosyncratic, particularized utterer in this or that occasion. He knows a
philosopher craves for generality, so he provokes the generality-searcher with
divisions and sub-divisions of mean. But his heart does not seem to be there,
and he is just being overformalistic and technical for the sake of it. I am
glad that Putnam, of all people, told me in an aside, you are being too formal,
Grice. I stopped with symbolism since! Communication. This is Grice’s clearest
anti-animist attack by Grice. He had joins Hume in mocking causing and willing:
The decapitation of Charles I as willing Charles Is death. Language semantics
alla Tarski. Grice know sees his former self. If he was obsessed, after Ayer,
with mean, he now wants to see if his explanation of it (then based on his
pre-theoretic intuition) is theoretically advisable in terms other than dealing
with those pre-theoretical facts, i.e. how he deals with a lexeme like mean.
This is a bit like Grice: implicatum, revisited. An axiological approach to
meaning. Strictly a reprint of Grice, which should be the preferred citation.
The date is given by Grice himself, and he knew! Grice also composed some notes
on Remnants on meaning, by Schiffer. This is a bit like Grices meaning
re-revisited. Schiffer had been Strawsons tutee at Oxford as a Rhode Scholar in
the completion of his D. Phil. on Meaning, Clarendon. Eventually, Schiffer
grew sceptic, and let Grice know about it! Grice did not find Schiffers
arguments totally destructive, but saw the positive side to them. Schiffers
arguments should remind any philosopher that the issues he is dealing are
profound and bound to involve much elucidation before they are solved. This is
a bit like Grice: implicatum, revisited. Meaning revisited (an ovious nod to
Evelyn Waughs Yorkshire-set novel) is the title Grice chose for a contribution
to a symposium at Brighton organised by Smith. Meaning revisited (although
Grice has earlier drafts entitled Meaning and philosophical psychology)
comprises three sections. In the first section, Grice is concerned with the application
of his modified Occam’s razor now to the very lexeme, mean. Cf. How many senses
does sense have? Cohen: The Senses of Senses. In the second part, Grice
explores an evolutionary model of creature construction reaching a stage of
non-iconic representation. Finally, in the third section, motivated to solve
what he calls a major problem ‒ versus the minor problem concerning the
transition from the meaning by the utterer to the meaning by the
expression. Grice attempts to construct meaning as a value-paradeigmatic
notion. A version was indeed published in the proceedings of the Brighton symposium,
by Croom Helm, London. Grice has a couple of other drafts with variants on this
title: philosophical psychology and meaning, psychology and meaning. He keeps,
meaningfully, changing the order. It is not arbitrary that the fascinating
exploration by Grice is in three parts. In the first, where he applies his
Modified Occams razor to mean, he is revisiting Stevenson. Smoke means fire and
I mean love, dont need different senses of mean. Stevenson is right when using
scare quotes for smoke ‘meaning’ fire utterance. Grice is very much aware that
that, the rather obtuse terminology of senses, was exactly the terminology he
had adopted in both Meaning and the relevant James lectures (V and VI) at
Harvard! Now, its time to revisit and to echo Graves, say, goodbye to all that!
In the second part he applies Pology. While he knows his audience is not
philosophical ‒ it is not Oxford ‒ he thinks they still may get some
entertainment! We have a P feeling pain, simulating it, and finally uttering, I
am in pain. In the concluding section, Grice becomes Plato. He sees meaning as
an optimum, i.e. a value-paradeigmatic notion introducing value in its guise of
optimality. Much like Plato thought circle works in his idiolect. Grice played
with various titles, in the Grice Collection. Theres philosophical psychology
and meaning. The reason is obvious. The lecture is strictly divided in
sections, and it is only natural that Grice kept drafts of this or that section
in his collection. In WOW Grice notes that he re-visited his Meaning re-visited
at a later stage, too! And he meant it! Surely, there is no way to understand
the stages of Grice’s development of his ideas about meaning without Peirce! It
is obvious here that Grice thought that mean two figurative or metabolical
extensions of use. Smoke means fire and Smoke means smoke. The latter is a
transferred use in that impenetrability means lets change the topic if
Humpty-Dumpty m-intends that it and Alice are to change the topic. Why did
Grice feel the need to add a retrospective epilogue? He loved to say that what
the “way of words” contains is neither his first, nor his last word. So trust
him to have some intermediate words to drop. He is at his most casual in the
very last section of the epilogue. The first section is more of a very
systematic justification for any mistake the reader may identify in the offer.
The words in the epilogue are thus very guarded and qualificatory. Just one
example about our focus: conversational implicate and conversation as rational
co-operation. He goes back to Essay 2, but as he notes, this was hardly the
first word on the principle of conversational helpfulness, nor indeed the first
occasion where he actually used implicature. As regards co-operation, the
retrospective epilogue allows him to expand on a causal phrasing in Essay 2,
“purposive, indeed rational.” Seeing in retrospect how the idea of rationality
was the one that appealed philosophers most – since it provides a rationale and
justification for what is otherwise an arbitrary semantic proliferation. Grice
then distinguishes between the thesis that conversation is purposive, and the
thesis that conversation is rational. And, whats more, and in excellent
Griceian phrasing, there are two theses here, too. One thing is to see
conversation as rational, and another, to use his very phrasing, as rational
co-operation! Therefore, when one discusses the secondary literature, one
should be attentive to whether the author is referring to Grices qualifications
in the Retrospective epilogue. Grice is careful to date some items. However,
since he kept rewriting, one has to be careful. These seven folder contain the
material for the compilation. Grice takes the opportunity of the compilation by
Harvard of his WOW, representative of the mid-60s, i. e. past the heyday of
ordinary-language philosophy, to review the idea of philosophical progress in
terms of eight different strands which display, however, a consistent and
distinctive unity. Grice keeps playing with valediction, valedictory,
prospective and retrospective, and the different drafts are all kept in The
Grice Papers. The Retrospective epilogue, is divided into two sections. In the
first section, he provides input for his eight strands, which cover not just
meaning, and the assertion-implication distinction to which he alludes to in
the preface, but for more substantial philosophical issues like the philosophy
of perception, and the defense of common sense realism versus the sceptial
idealist. The concluding section tackles more directly a second theme he had
idenfitied in the preface, which is a methodological one, and his long-standing
defence of ordinary-language philosophy. The section involves a fine
distinction between the Athenian dialectic and the Oxonian dialectic, and tells
the tale about his fairy godmother, G*. As he notes, Grice had dropped a few
words in the preface explaining the ordering of essays in the compilation. He
mentions that he hesitated to follow a suggestion by Bennett that the ordering
of the essays be thematic and chronological. Rather, Grice chooses to
publish the whole set of seven James lectures, what he calls the centerpiece,
as part I. II, the explorations in semantics and metaphysics, is organised more
or less thematically, though. In the Retrospective epilogue, Grice takes up
this observation in the preface that two ideas or themes underlie his Studies:
that of meaning, and assertion vs. implication, and philosophical methodology.
The Retrospective epilogue is thus an exploration on eight strands he
identifies in his own philosophy. Grices choice of strand is careful. For
Grice, philosophy, like virtue, is entire. All the strands belong to the same
knit, and therefore display some latitudinal, and, he hopes, longitudinal
unity, the latter made evidence by his drawing on the Athenian dialectic as a
foreshadow of the Oxonian dialectic to come, in the heyday of the Oxford school
of analysis, when an interest in the serious study of ordinary language had
never been since and will never be seen again. By these two types of unity,
Grice means the obvious fact that all branches of philosophy (philosophy of
language, or semantics, philosophy of perception, philosophical psychology,
metaphysics, axiology, etc.) interact and overlap, and that a historical regard
for ones philosophical predecessors is a must, especially at Oxford. Why is
Grice obsessed with asserting? He is more interested, technically, in the
phrastic, or dictor. Grice sees a unity, indeed, equi-vocality, in the
buletic-doxastic continuum. Asserting is usually associated with the doxastic.
Since Grice is always ready to generalise his points to cover the buletic
(recall his Meaning, “theres by now no reason to stick to informative cases,”),
it is best to re-define his asserting in terms of the phrastic. This is enough
of a strong point. As Hare would agree, for emotivists like Barnes, say, an
utterance of buletic force may not have any content whatsoever. For Grice,
there is always a content, the proposition which becomes true when the action
is done and the desire is fulfilled or satisfied. Grice quotes from Bennett.
Importantly, Grice focuses on the assertion/non-assertion distinction. He
overlooks the fact that for this or that of his beloved imperative utterance,
asserting is out of the question, but explicitly conveying that p is not.
He needs a dummy to stand for a psychological or souly state, stance, or
attitude of either boule or doxa, to cover the field of the utterer
mode-neutrally conveying explicitly that his addressee A is to entertain that
p. The explicatum or explicitum sometimes does the trick, but sometimes it does
not. It is interesting to review the Names index to the volume, as well as the
Subjects index. This is a huge collection, comprising 14 folders. By contract,
Grice was engaged with Harvard, since it is the President of the College that
holds the copyrights for the James lectures. The title Grice eventually chooses
for his compilation of essays, which goes far beyond the James, although
keeping them as the centerpiece, is a tribute to Locke, who, although obsessed
with his idealist and empiricist new way of ideas, leaves room for both the
laymans and scientists realist way of things, and, more to the point, for this
or that philosophical semiotician to offer this or that study in the way of
words. Early in the linguistic turn minor revolution, the expression the new
way of words, had been used derogatorily. WOW is organised in two parts: Logic
and conversation and the somewhat pretentiously titled Explorations in
semantics and metaphysics, which offers commentary around the centerpiece. It
also includes a Preface and a very rich and inspired Retrospective epilogue.
From part I, the James lectures, only three had not been previously published.
The first unpublished lecture is Prolegomena, which really sets the scene, and
makes one wonder what the few philosophers who quote from The logic of grammar
could have made from the second James lecture taken in isolation. Grice
explores Aristotle’s “to alethes”: “For the true and the false exist with respect
to synthesis and division (peri gar synthesin kai diaireisin esti to pseudos
kai to alethes).” Aristotle insists upon the com-positional form of truth in
several texts: cf. De anima, 430b3 ff.: “in truth and falsity, there is a
certain composition (en hois de kai to pseudos kai to alethes, synthesis tis)”;
cf. also Met. 1027b19 ff.: the true and the false are with respect to (peri)
composition and decomposition (synthesis kai diaresis).” It also shows that
Grices style is meant for public delivery, rather than reading. The second
unpublished lecture is Indicative conditionals. This had been used by a few
philosophers, such as Gazdar, noting that there were many mistakes in the
typescript, for which Grice is not to be blamed. The third is on some models
for implicature. Since this Grice acknowledges is revised, a comparison with
the original handwritten version of the final James lecture retrieves a few
differences From Part II, a few essays had not been published before, but
Grice, nodding to the longitudinal unity of philosophy, is very careful and
proud to date them. Commentary on the individual essays is made under the
appropriate dates. Philosophical correspondence is quite a genre. Hare would
express in a letter to the Librarian for the Oxford Union, “Wiggins does not
want to be understood,” or in a letter to Bennett that Williams is the worse
offender of Kantianism! It was different with Grice. He did not type. And he
wrote only very occasionally! These are four folders with general
correspondence, mainly of the academic kind. At Oxford, Grice would hardly keep
a correspondence, but it was different with the New World, where academia turns
towards the bureaucracy. Grice is not precisely a good, or reliable, as The BA
puts it, correspondent. In the Oxford manner, Grice prefers a face-to-face
interaction, any day. He treasures his Saturday mornings under Austins
guidance, and he himself leads the Play Group after Austins demise, which, as
Owen reminisced, attained a kind of cult status. Oxford is different. As a
tutorial fellow in philosophy, Grice was meant to tutor his students; as a
University Lecturer he was supposed to lecture sometimes other fellowss tutees!
Nothing about this reads: publish or perish! This is just one f. containing
Grices own favourite Griceian references. To the historian of analytic
philosophy, it is of particular interest. It shows which philosophers Grice
respected the most, and which ones the least. As one might expect, even on the
cold shores of Oxford, as one of Grices tutees put it, Grice is cited by
various Oxford philosophers. Perhaps the first to cite Grice in print is his
tutee Strawson, in “Logical Theory.” Early on, Hart quotes Grice on meaning in
his review in The Philosophical Quarterly of Holloways Language and
Intelligence before Meaning had been published. Obviously, once Grice and
Strawson, In defense of a dogma and Grice, Meaning are published by The
Philosophical Review, Grice is discussed profusely. References to the
implicatum start to appear in the literature at Oxford in the mid-1960s, within
the playgroup, as in Hare and Pears. It is particularly intriguing to explore
those philosophers Grice picks up for dialogue, too, and perhaps arrange them
alphabetically, from Austin to Warnock, say. And Griceian philosophical
references, Oxonian or other, as they should, keep counting! The way to search
the Grice Papers here is using alternate keywords, notably “meaning.” “Meaning”
s. II, “Utterer’s meaning and intentions,” s. II, “Utterer’s meaning,
sentence-meaning, and word meaning,” s. II, “Meaning revisited,” s. II. – but
also “Meaning and psychology,” s. V, c.7-ff.
24-25. While Grice uses “signification,” and lectured on Peirce’s
“signs,” “Peirce’s general theory of signs,” (s. V, c. 8-f. 29), he would avoid
such pretentiously sounding expressions. Searching under ‘semantic’ and
‘semantics’ (“Grammar and semantics,” c. 7-f. 5; “Language semantics,” c.
7-f.20, “Basic Pirotese, sentence semantics and syntax,” c. 8-f. 30, “Semantics
of children’s language,” c. 9-f. 10, “Sentence semantics” (c. 9-f. 11);
“Sentence semantics and propositional complexes,” c. 9-f.12, “Syntax and
semantics,” c. 9-ff. 17-18) may help, too. Folder on Schiffer (“Schiffer,” c.
9-f. 9), too.
commitment: Grice’s commitment to the 39 Articles. An
utterer is committed to those and only those entities to which the bound
variables of his utterance must be capable of referring in order that the
utterance made be true.” Cf. Grice on substitutional quantification for his
feeling Byzantine, and ‘gap’ sign in the analysis.
common-ground status assignment:
Strwson and Wiggins view that this is only tentative for Grice. the regulations
for common-ground assignment have to do with general rational constraints on
conversation. Grice is clear in “Causal,” and as Strawson lets us know, he was
already clear in “Introduction” when talking of a ‘pragmatic rule.’ Strawson
states the rule in terms of making your conversational contribution the
logically strongest possible. If we abide by an imperative of conversational
helpfulness, enjoining the maximally giving and receiving of information and
the influencing and being influenced by others in the institution of a
decisions, the sub-imperative follows to the effect, ‘Thou shalt NOT make a
weak move compared to the stronger one that thou canst truthfully make, and
with equal or greater economy of means.’“Causal”
provides a more difficult version, because it deals with non-extensional
contexts where ‘strong’ need not be interpreted as ‘logical strength’ in terms
of entailment. Common ground status assignment springs from the principle of
conversational helpfulness or conversational benevolence. What would be the
benevolent point of ‘informing’ your addressee what you KNOW your addressee
already knows? It is not even CONCEPTUALLY possible. You are not ‘informing’
him if you are aware that he knows it. So, what Strawson later calls the
principle of presumption of ignorance and the principle of the presumption of
knowledge are relevant. There is a balance between the two. If Strawson asks
Grice, “Is the king of France bald?” Grice is entitled to assume that Strawson
thinks two things Grice will perceive as having been assigned a ‘common-ground’
status as uncontroversial topic not worth conversing about. First, Strawson
thinks that there is one king. (∃x)Fx. Second, Strawson thinks that there is at most one
king. (x)(y)((Fx.Fy)⊃ x=y).
That the king is bald is NOT assigned common-ground status, because Grice
cannot expect that Strawson thinks that Grice KNOWS that. Grice symbolises the
common-ground status by means of subscripts. He also uses square-bracekts, so
that anything within the scope of the square brackets is immune to controversy,
or as Grice also puts it, conversationally _inert_: things we don’t talk about.
complexum: the topic is essential in seeing Grice within the British
empiricist tradition. Empiricists always loved a simplex, like ‘red.’ In his
notes on ‘Meaning’ and “Peirce,’ Grice notes that for a ‘simplex’ like “red,”
the best way to deal with it is via a Russellian function, ‘x is red.’ The
opposite of ‘simplex’ is of course a ‘complexum.’ hile Grice does have an essay
on the ‘complexum,’ he is mostly being jocular. His dissection of the
proposition proceds by considering ‘the a,’ and its denotatum, or reference,
and ‘is the b,’ which involves then the predication. This is Grice’s shaggy-dog
story. Once we have ‘the dog is shaggy,’ we have a ‘complexum,’ and we can say
that the utterer means, by uttering ‘Fido is shaggy,’ that the dog is
hairy-coated. Simple, right? It’s the jocular in Grice. He is joking on
philosophers who look at those representative of the linguistic turn, and ask,
“So what do you have to say about reference and predication,’ and Grice comes
up with an extra-ordinary analysis of what is to believe that the dog is
hairy-coat, and communicating it. In fact, the ‘communicating’ is secondary.
Once Grice has gone to metabolitical extension of ‘mean’ to apply to the
expression, communication becomes secondary in that it has to be understood in
what Grice calls the ‘atenuated’ usage involving this or that ‘readiness’ to
have this or that procedure, basic or resultant, in one’s repertoire! Bealer is
one of Grices most brilliant tutees in the New World. The Grice collection
contains a full f. of correspondence with Bealer. Bealer refers to Grice
in his influential Clarendon essay on content. Bealer is concerned with how
pragmatic inference may intrude in the ascription of a psychological, or souly,
state, attitude, or stance. Bealer loves to quote from Grice on definite
descriptions in Russell and in the vernacular, the implicature being that
Russell is impenetrable! Bealers mentor is Grices close collaborator Myro, so
he knows what he is talking about. Grice explored the matter of subperception
at Oxford only with G. J. Warnock. Refs.: The main reference is in ‘Reply to
Richards.’ But there is “Sentence semantics and propositional complexes,” c.
9-f. 12, BANC.
conatum: ... (orme) the technical Stoic definition of
πάθος, viz. as a particular kind of conation, or impulse (ορμή). ... 4 ' This definition (amorem
ipsum conatum amicitiae faeiendae ex ... emotion and moral
self-management in Galen's philosophical
psychology', ..cōnātum , i, usu. in
plur.: cōnāta ,
ōrum, n., v. conor.. The term is used by an the
Wilde Reader at Oxford, that Grice once followed – until he became a
neo-Prichardian instead.(philosophy) The
power or act which directs or impels to effort of any kind, whether muscular
or psychical. quotations 1899, George Frederick Stout, A Manual of Psychology, page 234:Any pleasing sense-experience, when it has
once taken place, will, on subsequent occasions, give rise to a conation, when its conditions are only
partially repeated...
conceptum: Grice obviously uses Frege’s notion of a ‘concept.’ One of
Grice’s metaphysical routines is meant to produce a logical construction of a
concept or generate a new concept. Aware of the act/product distinction, Grice
distinguishes between the conceptum, or concept, and the conception, or conceptio.
Grice allows that ‘not’ may be a ‘concept,’ so he is not tied to the ‘equine’
idea by Frege of the ‘horse.’ Since an agent can fail to conceive that his
neighbour’s three-year old is an adult, Grice accepts that ‘conceives’ may take
a ‘that’-clause. In ‘ordinary’ language, one does not seem to refer, say, to
the concept that e = mc2, but that may be a failure or ‘ordinary’ language. In
the canonical cat-on-the-mat, we have Grice conceiving that the cat is on the
mat, and also having at least four concepts: the concept of ‘cat,’ the concept
of ‘mat,’ the concept of ‘being on,’ and the concept of the cat being on the
mat.
conditionalis: This is an interesting Latinism. For those in the know,
it’s supposed to translate ‘hypothetical,’ that Grice also uses. But literally,
the transliteration of ‘hypothetica’ is ‘sub-positio,’ i.e. ‘suppositio,’ so
infamous in the Dark Ages! So one has to be careful. For some reason, Boethius
disliked ‘suppositio,’ and preferred to add to the Latinate philosophical vocabulary,
with ‘conditionalis,’ the hypothetical, versus the categoric, become the
‘conditionale.’ And the standard was not the Diodoran, but the Philonian, also
known, after Whitehead, as the ‘implicatio materialis.’ While this sounds
scholastic, it isn’t. Cicero may have used ‘implicatio materialis.’ But
Whitehead’s and Russell’s motivation is a different one. They start with the
‘material’, by which they mean a proposition WITH A TRUTH VALUE. For
implication that does not have this restriction, they introduce ‘implicatio
formalis,’ or ‘formal implication.’ In their adverbial ways, it goes p formally
implies q. trictly, propositio conditionalis:
vel substitutive, versus propositio praedicativa in Apuleius. Classical Latin condicio was confused in Late Latin with conditio "a making," from conditus, past participle of condere "to put together." The sense
evolution in Latin apparently was from "stipulation" to
"situation, mode of being."
Grice lists ‘if’ as the third binary functor in his response to Strawson. The
relations between “if” and “⊃” have already, but only in part,
been discussed. 1 The sign “⊃” is called the Material Implication
sign a name I shall consider later. Its meaning is given by the rule that any
statement of the form ‘p⊃q’ is false in the case in which the first of its constituent
statements is true and the second false, and is true in every other case
considered in the system; i. e., the falsity of the first constituent statement
or the truth of the second are, equally, sufficient conditions of the truth of
a statement of material implication ; the combination of truth in the first
with falsity in the second is the single, necessary and sufficient, condition
(1 Ch. 2, S. 7) of its falsity. The standard or primary -- the importance of
this qualifying phrase can scarcely be overemphasized. There are uses of “if …
then … ” which do not answer to the
description given here,, or to any other descriptions given in this chapter
-- use of an “if … then …” sentence,
on the other hand, we saw to be in circumstances where, not knowing whether
some statement which could be made by the use of a sentence corresponding in a
certain way to the first clause of the hypothetical is true or not, or
believing it to be false, we nevertheless consider that a step in reasoning
from that statement to a statement related in a similar way to the second
clause would be a sound or reasonable step ; the second statement also being
one of whose truth we are in doubt, or which we believe to be false. Even in
such circumstances as these we may sometimes hesitate to apply the word ‘true’
to hypothetical statements (i.e., statements which could be made by the use of
“if ... then …,” in its standard significance), preferring to call them
reasonable or well-founded ; but if we apply ‘true’ to them at all, it will be
in such circumstances as these. Now one of the sufficient conditions of the
truth of a statement of material implication may very well be fulfilled without
the conditions for the truth, or reasonableness, of the corresponding
hypothetical statement being fulfilled ; i.e., a statement of the form ‘p⊃q’ does not entail the corresponding statement of the form
“if p then q.” But if we are prepared to accept the hypothetical statement, we
must in consistency be prepared to deny the conjunction of the statement
corresponding to the first clause of the sentence used to make the hypothetical
statement with the negation of the statement corresponding to its second clause
; i.e., a statement of the form “if p then q” does entail the corresponding statement
of the form ‘p⊃q.’ The force of “corresponding” needs elucidation. Consider
the three following very ordinary specimens of hypothetical sentences. If the
Germans had invaded England in 1940, they would have won the war. If Jones were
in charge, half the staff would have been dismissed. If it rains, the match will
be cancelled. The sentences which could be used to make statements
corresponding in the required sense to the subordinate clauses can be
ascertained by considering what it is that the speaker of each hypothetical
sentence must (in general) be assumed either to be in doubt about or to believe
to be not the case. Thus, for (1) to (8), the corresponding pairs of sentences
are as follows. The Germans invaded England in 1940; they won the war. Jones is
in charge; half the staff has been dismissed. It will rain; the match will be
cancelled. Sentences which could be used to make the statements of material
implication corresponding to the hypothetical statements made by these
sentences can now be framed from these pairs of sentences as follows. The Germans
invaded England in 1940 ⊃ they won the war. Jones is in charge ⊃ half the staff has been, dismissed. It will rain ⊃ the match will be cancelled. The very fact that these
verbal modifications are necessary, in order to obtain from the clauses of the
hypothetical sentence the clauses of the corresponding material implication
sentence is itself a symptom of the radical difference between hypothetical
statements and truth-functional statements. Some detailed differences are also
evident from these examples. The falsity of a statement made by the use of ‘The
Germans invaded England in 1940’ or ‘Jones is in charge’ is a sufficient
condition of the truth of the corresponding statements made by the use of (Ml)
and (M2) ; but not, of course, of the corresponding statements made by the use
of (1) and (2). Otherwise, there would normally be no point in using sentences
like (1) and (2) at all; for these sentences would normally carry – but not
necessarily: one may use the pluperfect or the imperfect subjunctive when one
is simply working out the consequences of an hypothesis which one may be
prepared eventually to accept -- in the tense or mood of the verb, an
implication of the utterer's belief in the falsity of the statements
corresponding to the clauses of the hypothetical. It is not raining is
sufficient to verify a statement made by the use of (MS), but not a
statement made by the use of (3). Its not raining Is also sufficient to verify
a statement made by the use of “It will rain ⊃
the match will not be cancelled.” The formulae ‘p revise ⊃q’ and ‘q revise⊃
q' are consistent with one another, and the joint assertion of corresponding
statements of these forms is equivalent to the assertion of the corresponding
statement of the form * *-~p. But “If it rains, the match will be cancelled” is
inconsistent with “If it rains, the match will not be cancelled,” and their
joint assertion in the same context is self-contradictory. Suppose we call the
statement corresponding to the first clause of a sentence used to make a
hypothetical statement the antecedent of the hypothetical statement; and the
statement corresponding to the second clause, its consequent. It is sometimes
fancied that whereas the futility of identifying conditional statements with
material implications is obvious in those cases where the implication of the
falsity of the antecedent is normally carried by the mood or tense of the verb
(e.g., (I) or (2)), there is something to be said for at least a partial
identification in cases where no such implication is involved, i.e., where the
possibility of the truth of both antecedent and consequent is left open (e.g.,
(3). In cases of the first kind (‘unfulfilled’ or ‘subjunctive’ conditionals)
our attention is directed only to the last two lines of the truth-tables for *
p ⊃ q ', where the antecedent has the truth-value, falsity; and
the suggestion that ‘~p’ entails ‘if p, then q’ is felt to be obviously wrong.
But in cases of the second kind we may inspect also the first two lines, for
the possibility of the antecedent's being fulfilled is left open; and the
suggestion that ‘p . q’ entails ‘if p, then q’ is not felt to be obviously
wrong. This is an illusion, though engendered by a reality. The fulfilment of
both antecedent and consequent of a hypothetical statement does not show that
the man who made the hypothetical statement was right; for the consequent might
be fulfilled as a result of factors unconnected with, or in spite of, rather
than because of, the fulfilment of the antecedent. We should be prepared to say
that the man who made the hypothetical statement was right only if we were also
prepared to say that the fulfilment of the antecedent was, at least in part,
the explanation of the fulfilment of the consequent. The reality behind the
illusion is complex : en. 3 it is, partly, the fact that, in many cases, the
fulfilment of both antecedent and consequent may provide confirmation for the
view that the existence of states of affairs like those described by the
antecedent is a good reason for expecting states of affairs like those
described by the consequent ; and it is, partly, the fact that a man whosays,
for example, 4 If it rains, the match will be cancelled * makes a prediction
(viz.. that the match will be cancelled) under a proviso (viz., that it rains),
and that the cancellation of the match because of the rain therefore leads us
to say, not only that the reasonableness of the prediction was confirmed, but
also that the prediction itself was confirmed. Because a statement of the form
“p⊃q” does not entail the corresponding statement of the form '
if p, then q ' (in its standard employment), we shall expect to find, and have
found, a divergence between the rules for '⊃'
and the rules for ' if J (in its standard employment). Because ‘if p, then q’
does entail ‘p⊃q,’ we shall also expect to find some degree of parallelism
between the rules; for whatever is entailed by ‘p "3 q’ will be entailed
by ‘if p, then q,’ though not everything which entails ‘p⊃q’ will entail ‘if p, then q.’ Indeed, we find further
parallels than those which follow simply from the facts that ‘if p, then q’
entails ‘p⊃q’ and that entailment is transitive. To laws (19)-(23)
inclusive we find no parallels for ‘if.’ But for (15) (p⊃j).JJ⊃? (16) (P ⊃q).~qZ)~p (17) p'⊃q s ~q1)~p (18) (?⊃j).(?
⊃r) ⊃ (p⊃r) we find that, with certain reservations, 1 the following
parallel laws hold good : (1 The reservations are important. It is, e. g.,
often impossible to apply entailment-rule (iii) directly without obtaining
incorrect or absurd results. Some modification of the structure of the clauses
of the hypothetical is commonly necessary. But formal logic gives us no guide
as to which modifications are required. If we apply rule (iii) to our specimen
hypothetical sentences, without modifying at all the tenses or moods of the
individual clauses, we obtain expressions which are scarcely English. If we
preserve as nearly as possible the tense-mood structure, in the simplest way
consistent with grammatical requirements, we obtain the sentences : If the
Germans had not won the war, they would not have invaded England in
1940.) If half the staff had not been dismissed, Jones would not be in
charge. If the match is not cancelled, it will not rain. But these sentences,
so far from being logically equivalent to the originals, have in each case a
quite different sense. It is possible, at least in some such cases, to frame
sentences of more or less the appropriate pattern for which one can imagine a
use and which do stand in the required logical relationship to the original
sentences (e.g., ‘If it is not the case that half the staff has been dismissed,
then Jones can't be in charge;’ or ‘If the Germans did not win the war, it's
only because they did not invade England in 1940;’ or even (should historical
evidence become improbably scanty), ‘If the Germans did not win the war, it
can't be true that they invaded England in 1940’). These changes reflect
differences in the circumstances in which one might use these, as opposed to
the original, sentences. Thus the sentence beginning ‘If Jones were in charge
…’ would normally, though not necessarily, be used by a man who antecedently
knows that Jones is not in charge : the sentence beginning ‘If it's not the
case that half the staff has been dismissed …’ by a man who is working towards
the conclusion that Jones is not in charge. To say that the sentences are
nevertheless logically equivalent is to point to the fact that the grounds for
accepting either, would, in different circumstances, have been grounds for accepting
the soundness of the move from ‘Jones is in charge’ to ‘Half the staff has been
dismissed.’) (i) (if p, then q; and p)^q
(ii) (if p, then qt and not-g) Dnot-j? (iii) (if p, then f) ⊃ (if not-0, then not-j?) (iv) (if p, then f ; and iff, then
r) ⊃(if j>, then r) (One must remember that calling the
formulae (i)-(iv) is the same as saying that, e.g., in the case of (iii), c if
p, then q ' entails 4 if not-g, then not-j> '.) And similarly we find that,
for some steps which would be invalid for 4 if ', there are corresponding steps
that would be invalid for “⊃,” e. g. (p^q).q :. p are invalid inference-patterns,
and so are if p, then q ; and q /. p if p, then ; and not-j? /. not-f .The
formal analogy here may be described by saying that neither * p 13 q ' nor * if
j?, then q * is a simply convertible formula. We have found many laws (e.g.,
(19)-(23)) which hold for “⊃” and not for “if.” As an example of
a law which holds for “if,” but not for
“⊃,” we may give the analytic formula “ ~[(if p, then q) * (if
p, then not-g)]’. The corresponding formula 4 ~[(P 3 ?) * (j? 3 ~?}]’ is not
analytic, but (el (28)) is equivalent to the contingent formula ‘~~p.’ The
rules to the effect that formulae such as (19)-{23) are analytic are sometimes
referred to as ‘paradoxes of implication.’ This is a misnomer. If ‘⊃’ is taken as identical either with ‘entails’ or, more
widely, with ‘if ... then …’ in its
standard use, the rules are not paradoxical, but simply incorrect. If ‘⊃’ is given the meaning it has in the system of truth functions,
the rules are not paradoxical, but simple and platitudinous consequences of the
meaning given to the symbol. Throughout this section, I have spoken of a
‘primary or standard’ use of “if … then …,” or “if,” of which the main
characteristics were: that for each hypothetical statement made by this use of
“if,” there could be made just one statement which would be the antecedent of
the hypothetical and just one statement which would be its consequent; that the
hypothetical statement is acceptable (true, reasonable) if the antecedent
statement, if made or accepted, would, in the circumstances, be a good ground
or reason for accepting the consequent statement; and that the making of the
hypothetical statement carries the implication either of uncertainty about, or
of disbelief in, the fulfilment of both antecedent and consequent. (1 Not all
uses of * if ', however, exhibit all these characteristics. In particular,
there is a use which has an equal claim to rank as standard and which is
closely connected with the use described, but which does not exhibit the first
characteristic and for which the description of the remainder must consequently
be modified. I have in mind what are sometimes called 'variable' or 'general’
hypothetical : e.g., ‘lf ice is left in the sun, it melts,’ ‘If the side of a
triangle is produced, the exterior angle is equal to the sum of the two
interior and opposite angles ' ; ' If a child is very strictly disciplined in
the nursery, it will develop aggressive tendencies in adult life,’ and so on.
To a statement made by the use of a sentence such as these there corresponds no
single pair of statements which are, respectively, its antecedent and
consequent. On the other 1 There is much more than this to be said about this
way of using ‘if;’ in particular, about the meaning of the question whether the
antecedent would be a good ground or reason for accepting the consequent and
about the exact way in which this question is related to the question of
whether the hypothetical is true {acceptable, reasonable) or not hand, for
every such statement there is an indefinite number of non-general hypothetical
statements which might be called exemplifications, applications, of the
variable hypothetical; e.g., a statement made by the use of the sentence ‘If
this piece of ice is left in the sun, it will melt.’ To the subject of variable
hypothetical I may return later. 1 Two relatively uncommon uses of ‘if’ may be
illustrated respectively by the sentences ‘If he felt embarrassed, he showed no
signs of it’ and ‘If he has passed his exam, I’m a Dutchman (I'll eat my hat,
&c.)’ The sufficient and necessary condition of the truth of a statement
made by the first is that the man referred to showed no sign of embarrassment.
Consequently, such a statement cannot be treated either as a standard
hypothetical or as a material implication. Examples of the second kind are
sometimes erroneously treated as evidence that ‘if’ does, after all, behave
somewhat as ‘⊃’ behaves. The evidence for this is, presumably, the facts
(i) that there is no connexion between antecedent and consequent; (ii) that the
consequent is obviously not (or not to be) fulfilled ; (iii) that the intention
of the speaker is plainly to give emphatic expression to the conviction that
the antecedent is not fulfilled either ; and (iv) the fact that “(p ⊃ q) . ~q” entails “~p.” But this is a strange piece of
logic. For, on any possible interpretation, “if p then q” has, in respect of
(iv), the same logical powers as ‘p⊃q;’
and it is just these logical powers that we are jokingly (or fantastically)
exploiting. It is the absence of connexion referred to in (i) that makes it a
quirk, a verbal flourish, an odd use of ‘if.’ If hypothetical statements were
material implications, the statements would be not a quirkish oddity, but a
linguistic sobriety and a simple truth. Finally, we may note that ‘if’ can be employed not simply in making
statements, but in, e.g., making provisional announcements of intention (e.g.,
‘If it rains, I shall stay at home’) which, like unconditional announcements of
intention, we do not call true or false but describe in some other way. If the
man who utters the quoted sentence leaves home in spite of the rain, we do not
say that what he said was false, though we might say that he lied (never really
intended to stay in) ; or that he changed his mind. There are further uses of
‘if’ which I shall not discuss. 1 v. ch. 7, I. The safest way to read the
material implication sign is, perhaps, ‘not both … and not …’ The material
equivalence sign ‘≡’ has the meaning given by the
following definition : p q =df=⊃/'(p⊃ff).(sOj)'
and the phrase with which it is sometimes identified, viz., ‘if and only if,’
has the meaning given by the following definition: ‘p if and only if q’ =df ‘if
p then g, and if q then p.’ Consequently, the objections which hold against the
identification of ‘p⊃q” with ‘if p then q’ hold with double force against the
identification of “p≡q’ with ‘p if and only if q.’ ‘If’
is of particular interest to Grice. The interest in the ‘if’ is double in
Grice. In doxastic contexts, he needs it for his analysis of ‘intending’
against an ‘if’-based dispositional (i.e. subjective-conditional) analysis. He
is of course, later interested in how Strawson misinterpreted the ‘indicative’
conditional! It is later when he starts to focus on the ‘buletic’ mode marker,
that he wants to reach to Paton’s categorical (i.e. non-hypothetical)
imperative. And in so doing, he has to face the criticism of those Oxonian
philosophers who were sceptical about the very idea of a conditional buletic
(‘conditional command – what kind of a command is that?’. Grice would refere to
the protasis, or antecedent, as a relativiser – where we go again to the
‘absolutum’-‘relativum’ distinction. The conditional is also paramount in
Grice’s criticism of Ryle, where the keyword would rather be ‘disposition.’
Then ther eis the conditional and disposition. Grice is a philosophical
psychologist. Does that make sense? So are Austin (Other Minds), Hampshire
(Dispositions), Pears (Problems in philosophical psychology) and Urmson
(Parentheticals). They are ALL against Ryle’s silly analysis in terms of
single-track disposition" vs. "many-track disposition," and
"semi-disposition." If I hum and walk, I can either hum or walk. But
if I heed mindfully, while an IN-direct sensing may guide me to YOUR soul, a
DIRECT sensing guides me to MY soul. When Ogden consider attacks to meaning,
theres what he calls the psychological, which he ascribes to Locke Grices
attitude towards Ryle is difficult to assess. His most favourable assessment
comes from Retrospective epilogue, but then he is referring to Ryle’s fairy
godmother. Initially, he mentions Ryle as a philosopher engaged in, and
possibly dedicated to the practice of the prevailing Oxonian methodology, i.e.
ordinary-language philosophy. Initially, then, Grice enlists Ryle in
the regiment of ordinary-language philosophers. After introducing Athenian
dialectic and Oxonian dialectic, Grice traces some parallelisms, which should
not surprise. It is tempting to suppose that Oxonian dialectic reproduces some
ideas of Athenian dialectic. It would actually be surprising if there
were no parallels. Ryle was, after all, a skilled and enthusiastic student of
Grecian philosophy. Interestingly, Grice then has Ryles fairy godmother as
proposing the idea that, far from being a basis for rejecting the
analytic-synthetic distinction, opposition that there are initially two
distinct bundles of statements, bearing the labels analytic and synthetic,
lying around in the world of thought waiting to be noticed, provides us with
the key to making the analytic-synthetic distinction acceptable. The
essay has a verificationist ring to it. Recall Ayer and the
verificationists trying to hold water with concepts like fragile and the
problem of counterfactual conditionals vis-a-vis observational and
theoretical concepts. Grices essay has two parts: one on disposition as
such, and the second, the application to a type of psychological
disposition, which would be phenomenalist in a way, or verificationist, in
that it derives from introspection of, shall we say, empirical
phenomena. Grice is going to analyse, I want a sandwich. One person
wrote in his manuscript, there is something with the way Grice goes to work.
Still. Grice says that I want a sandwich (or I will that I eat a sandwich)
is problematic, for analysis, in that it seems to refer to experience that is
essentially private and unverifiable. An analysis of intending that p in terms
of being disposed that p is satisfied solves this. Smith wants a sandwich, or
he wills that he eats a sandwich, much as Toby needs nuts, if Smith opens the
fridge and gets one. Smith is disposed to act such that p is satisfied.
This Grice opposes to the ‘special-episode’ analysis of intending that p. An
utterance like I want a sandwich iff by uttering the utterance, the utterer is
describing this or that private experience, this or that private
sensation. This or that sensation may take the form of a highly specific
souly sate, like what Grice calls a sandwich-wanting-feeling. But then, if
he is not happy with the privacy special-episode analysis, Grice is also
dismissive of Ryles behaviourism in The concept of mind, fresh from
the press, which would describe the utterance in terms purely of this or that observable
response, or behavioural output, provided this or that sensory input. Grice
became friendlier with functionalism after Lewis taught him how. The
problem or crunch is with the first person. Surely, Grice claims, one does not
need to wait to observe oneself heading for the fridge before one is in a
position to know that he is hungry. Grice poses a problem for the
protocol-reporter. You see or observe someone else, Smith, that Smith wants a
sandwich, or wills that he eats a sandwich. You ask for evidence. But when it
is the agent himself who wants the sandwich, or wills that he eats a
sandwich, Grice melodramatically puts it, I am not in the
audience, not even in the front row of the stalls; I am on the
stage. Genial, as you will agree. Grice then goes on to offer an
analysis of intend, his basic and target attitude, which he has just used to
analyse and rephrase Peirces mean and which does relies on this or that piece
of dispositional evidence, without divorcing itself completely from the privileged
status or access of first-person introspective knowledge. In “Uncertainty,”
Grice weakens his reductive analysis of intending that, from neo-Stoutian,
based on certainty, or assurance, to neo-Prichardian, based on predicting. All
very Oxonian: Stout was the sometime Wilde reader in mental philosophy (a post
usually held by a psychologist, rather than a philosopher ‒ Stouts favourite
philosopher is psychologist James! ‒ and Prichard was Cliftonian and the proper
White chair of moral philosophy. And while in “Uncertainty” he allows that
willing that may receive a physicalist treatment, qua state, hell later turn a
functionalist, discussed under ‘soul, below, in his “Method in
philosophical psychology (from the banal to the bizarre” (henceforth, “Method”),
in the Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association,
repr. in “Conception.” Grice can easily relate to Hamsphires "Thought and
Action," a most influential essay in the Oxonian scene. Rather than Ryle!
And Grice actually addresses further topics on intention drawing on Hampshire,
Hart, and his joint collaboration with Pears. Refs.: The main reference is
Grice’s early essay on disposition and intention, The H. P. Grice. Refs.: The
main published source is Essay 4 in WOW, but there are essays on ‘ifs and
cans,’ so ‘if’ is a good keyword, on ‘entailment,’ and for the connection with
‘intending,’ ‘disposition and intention,’ BANC.
conjunctum: One has to be careful because the scholastic vocabulary
also misleadingly has ‘copulatum’ for this. The ‘copulatum’ should be
restricted to other usages, which Grice elaborates on ‘izzing’ and hazing.
traditional parlance, one ‘pars orationis.’ Aulus Gellius writes; “What the Greeks call
cup.TrsTrXeYF®'^® we call conjunctum or copulatum, copulative sentence. For
example. The Stoic copulative sentence — CTU|j.7rE7rXEY(iEvov dEltofia — is
translated by “conjunctum” or “copulatum,” for example: „P. Scipio, son of
Paulus, was a consul twice and was given the honour of triumph and also
performed the function of censor and was the colleague of L. Mummius during his
censorship”. Here, Aulus Gellius made a noteworthy remark, referring to the
value of truth of the composing propositions ■ (a Stoic problem). In keeping
with the Stoics, he wrote: “If one element of the copulative sentence is false,
even if all the other elements are true, the copulative sentence is false” (“in
omni aiitem conjuncto si unum est mendacium etiamsi, caetera vera sunt, totum
esse mendacium dicitur”). In the identification of ‘and’ with ‘Λ’
there is already a considerable
distortion of the facts. ‘And’ can perform many jobs which ‘Λ’ cannot perform. It can, for instance, be used to couple
nouns (“Tom and William arrived”), or adjectives (“He was hungry and thirsty”),
or adverbs (“He walked slowly and painfully”); while ' . ' can be used only to
couple expressions which could appear as separate sentences. One might be
tempted to say that sentences in which “and” coupled words or phrases, were
short for sentences in which “and” couples clauses; e.g., that “He was hungry
and thirsty” was short for “He was hungry and he was thirsty.” But this is
simply false. We do not say, of anyone who uses sentences like “Tom and William
arrived,” that he is speaking elliptically, or using abbreviations. On the
contrary, it is one of the functions of “and,” to which there is no counterpart
In the case of “.,” to form plural subjects or compound predicates. Of course
it is true of many statements of the forms “x and y” are/* or ' x is /and g \
that they are logically equivalent to corresponding statements of the"
form * x Is /and yisf'oT^x is /and x is g \ But, first, this is a fact about
the use, in certain contexts, of “and,”
to which there corresponds no rule for the use of * . '. And, second, there are
countless contexts for which such an equivalence does not hold; e.g. “Tom and
Mary made friends” is not equivalent to “Tom made friends and Mary made
friends.” They mean, usually, quite different things. But notice that one could
say “Tom and Mary made friends; but not with one another.” The implication of
mutuality in the first phrase is not so strong but that it can be rejected
without self-contradiction; but it is strong enough to make the rejection a
slight shock, a literary effect. Nor does such an equivalence hold if we
replace “made friends” by “met yesterday,” “were conversing,” “got married,” or
“were playing chess.” Even “Tom and William arrived” does not mean the same as
“Tom arrived and William arrived;” for the first suggests “together” and the second
an order of arrival. It might be conceded that “and” has functions which “ .”
has not (e.g., may carry in certain contexts an implication of mutuality which
‘.’ does not), and yet claimed that the
rules which hold for “and,” where it is used to couple clauses, are the same as
the rules which hold for “.” Even this is not true. By law (11), " p , q '
is logically equivalent to * q . p ' ; but “They got married and had a child”
or “He set to work and found a job” are by no means logically equivalent to “They
had a child and got married” or “He found a job and set to work.” One might try
to avoid these difficulties by regarding ‘.’ as having the function, not of '
and ', but of what it looks like, namely a full stop. We should then have to
desist from talking of statements of the forms ' p .q\ * p . J . r * &CM
and talk of sets-of-statements of these forms instead. But this would not
avoid all, though it would avoid some, of the difficulties. Even in a passage
of prose consisting of several indicative sentences, the order of the sentences
may be in general vital to the sense, and in particular, relevant (in a way
ruled out by law (II)) to the truth-conditions of a set-of-statements made by
such a passage. The fact is that, in general, in ordinary speech and writing,
clauses and sentences do not contribute to the truthconditions of things said
by the use of sentences and paragraphs in which they occur, in any such simple
way as that pictured by the truth-tables for the binary connectives (' D ' * .
', 4 v ', 35 ') of the system, but in far more subtle, various, and complex
ways. But it is precisely the simplicity of the way in which, by the definition
of a truth-function, clauses joined by these connectives contribute to the
truth-conditions of sentences resulting from the junctions, which makes
possible the stylized, mechanical neatness of the logical system. It will not
do to reproach the logician for his divorce from linguistic realities, any more
than it will do to reproach the abstract painter for not being a
representational artist; but one may justly reproach him if he claims to be a
representational artist. An abstract painting may be, recognizably, a painting
of something. And the identification of “.” with ‘and,’ or with a full stop, is
not a simple mistake. There is a great deal of point in comparing them. The
interpretation of, and rules for, “.”define a minimal linguistic operation,
which we might call ‘simple conjunction’ and roughly describe as the joining
together of two (or more) statements in the process of asserting them both (or
all). And this is a part of what we often do with ' and ', and with the full
stop. But we do not string together at random any assertions we consider true;
we bring them together, in spoken or written sentences or paragraphs, only when
there is some further reason for the rapprochement, e.g., when they record
successive episodes in a single narrative. And that for the sake of which we
conjoin may confer upon the sentences embodying the conjunction logical
features at variance with the rules for “.” Thus we have seen that a statement
of the form “p and q” may carry an implication of temporal order incompatible
with that carried by the corresponding statement of the form “q and p.” This is
not to deny that statements corresponding to these, but of the forms ‘pΛq’ and ‘qΛp’would
be, if made, logically equivalent; for such statements would carry no
implications, and therefore no incompatible implications, of temporal order.
Nor is it to deny the point, and merit, of the comparison; the statement of the
form ‘pΛq’ means at least a part of what is
meant by the corresponding statement of the form ‘p and q.’ We might say: the form ‘p q’ is an abstraction from the
different uses of the form ‘p and q.’ Simple conjunction is a minimal element in
colloquial conjunction. We may speak of ‘. ‘ as the conjunctive sign; and read
it, for simplicity's sake, as “and” or “both … and … “I have already remarked
that the divergence between the meanings given to the truth-functional
constants and the meanings of the ordinary conjunctions with which they are
commonly identified is at a minimum in the cases of ' ~ ' and ‘.’ We have seen,
as well, that the remaining constants of the system can be defined in terms of
these two. Other interdefinitions are equally possible. But since ^’ and ‘.’ are more nearly identifiable with ‘not’ and
‘and’ than any other constant with any other English word, I prefer to
emphasize the definability of the remaining constants in terms of ‘ .’ and ‘~.’
It is useful to remember that every rule or law of the system can be expressed
in terms of negation and simple conjunction. The system might, indeed, be
called the System of Negation and Conjunction. Grice lists ‘and’ as the first
binary functor in his response to Strawson. Grice’s conversationalist
hypothesis applies to this central ‘connective.’ Interestingly, in his essay on
Aristotle, and discussing, “French poet,” Grice distinguishes between
conjunction and adjunction. “French” is adjuncted to ‘poet,’ unlike ‘fat’ in ‘fat
philosopher.’ Refs.The main published
source is “Studies in the Way of Words” (henceforth, “WOW”), I (especially
Essays 1 and 4), “Presupposition and conversational implicature,” in P. Cole,
and the two sets on ‘Logic and conversation,’ in The H. P. Grice Papers, BANC.
non-conventional – Strawson and Wiggins “P therefore q”: What is said: “p
and q” not made false if the implicated consequence relation fails to hold. Strawson
and Wiggins give other examples: therefore, so, but, although, because, alas,
and in its ‘misusage,’hopefully.’
conversational
avowal: Grice’s favourite
conversational avowal, mentioned by Grice, is a declaration of an intention..
Grice starts using the phrase ‘conversational avowal’ after exploring Ryle’s
rather cursory exploration of them in The Concept of Mind. This is
interesting because in general Grice is an anti-ryleist. The verb is of
course ‘to avow,’ which is ultimately a Latinate from ‘advocare.’ A processes
or event of the soul is, on the official view, supposed to be played out in a
private theatre. Such an event is known directly by the man who has them either
through the faculty of introspection or the ‘phosphorescence’ of
consciousness. The subject is, on this view, incorrigible—his avowals of
the state of his soul cannot be corrected by others—and he is infallible—he
cannot be wrong about which states he is in. The official doctrine
mistakenly construes an avowals or a report of such an episode as issuing from
a special sort of observation or perception of shadowy existents. We
should consider some differences between two sorts of 'conversational' avowals:
(i) I feel a tickle and (ii) I feel ill. If a man feels a tickle, he has a
tickle, and if he has a tickle, he feels it. But if he feels ill, he may
not be ill, and if he is ill, he may not feel ill. Doubtless a man’s
feeling ill is some evidence for his being ill. But feeling a tickle is not
evidence for his having a tickle, any more than striking a blow is evidence for
the occurrence of a blow. In ‘feel a tickle’ and ‘strike a blow’, ‘tickle’ and
‘blow’ are cognate accusatives to the verbs ‘feel’ and ‘strike’. The verb
and its accusative are two expressions for the same thing, as are the verbs and
their accusatives in ‘I dreamt a dream’ and ‘I asked a question’. But ‘ill’ and
‘capable of climbing the tree’ are not cognate accusatives to the verb ‘to
feel.' So they are not in grammar bound to signify feelings, as ‘tickle’ is in
grammar bound to signify a feeling. Another purely grammatical point shows
the same thing. It is indifferent whether I say ‘I feel a tickle’ or ‘I have a
tickle’; but ‘I have . . .’ cannot be completed by ‘. . . ill’, (cf. ‘I have an
illness’), ‘. . . capable of climbing the tree’, (cf. I have a capability to
climb that tree’) ‘. . . happy’ (cf. ‘I have a feeling of happiness’ or ‘I have
happiness in my life’) or ‘. . . discontented’ (cf. ‘I have a feeling of strong
discontent towards behaviourism’). If we try to restore the verbal parallel by
bringing in the appropriate abstract nouns, we find a further incongruity; ‘I
feel happiness’(I feel as though I am experiencing happiness), ‘I feel illness’
(I feel as though I do have an illness’) or ‘I feel ability to climb the tree’
(I feel that I am endowed with the capability to climb that tree), if they mean
anything, they do not mean at all what a man means by uttering ‘I feel happy,’
or ‘I feel ill,’ or ‘I feel capable of climbing the tree’. On the other
hand, besides these differences between the different uses of ‘I feel . . .’
there are important CONVERSATIONAL analogies as well. If a man says that
he has a tickle, his co-conversationalist does not ask for his evidence, or
requires him to make quite sure. Announcing a tickle is not proclaiming the
results of an investigation. A tickle is not something established by
careful witnessing, or something inferred from a clue, nor do we praise for his
powers of observation or reasoning a man who let us know that he feels tickles,
tweaks and flutters. Just the same is true of avowals of moods. If a man makes
a conversational contribution, such as‘I feel bored’, or ‘I feel depressed’,
his co-conversationalist does not usually ask him for his evidence, or request
him to make sure. The co-conversationalist may accuse the man of shamming to
him or to himself, but the co-conversationalist does not accuse him of having
been careless in his observations or rash in his inferences, since a
co-conversationalist would not usually think that his conversational avowal is
a report of an observation or a conclusion. He has not been a good or a
bad detective; he has not been a detective at all. Nothing would surprise us
more than to hear him say ‘I feel depressed’ in the alert and judicious tone of
voice of a detective, a microscopist, or a diagnostician, though this tone of voice
is perfectly congruous with the NON-AVOWAL past-tense ‘I WAS feeling depressed’
or the NON-AVOWAL third-person report, ‘HE feels depressed’. If the avowal is
to do its conversational job, it must be said in a depressed tone of voice. The
conversational avowal must be blurted out to a sympathizer, not reported to an
investigator. Avowing ‘I feel depressed’ is doing one of the things, viz. one
CONVERSATIONAL thing, that depression is the mood to do. It is not a piece of
scientific premiss-providing, but a piece of ‘conversational moping.’That is
why, if the co-conversationalist is suspicious, he does not ask ‘Fact or
fiction?’, ‘True or false?’, ‘Reliable or unreliable?’, but ‘Sincere or
shammed?’ The CONVERSATIONAL avowal of moods requires not acumen, but
openness. It comes from the heart, not from the head. It is not
discovery, but voluntary non-concealment. Of course people have to learn how to
use avowal expressions appropriately and they may not learn these lessons very
well. They learn them from ordinary discussions of the moods of others and from
such more fruitful sources as novels and the theatre. They learn from the same
sources how to cheat both other people and themselves by making a sham
conversational avowal in the proper tone of voice and with the other proper
histrionic accompaniments. If we now raise the question ‘How does a man find
out what mood he is in?’ one can answer that if, as may not be the case, he
finds it out at all, he finds it out very much as we find it out. As we have
seen, he does not groan ‘I feel bored’ because he has found out that he is
bored, any more than the sleepy man yawns because he has found out that he is
sleepy. Rather, somewhat as the sleepy man finds out that he is sleepy by
finding, among other things, that he keeps on yawning, so the bored man finds
out that he is bored, if he does find this out, by finding that among other
things he glumly says to others and to himself ‘I feel bored’ and ‘How bored I
feel’. Such a blurted avowal is not merely one fairly reliable index among
others. It is the first and the best index, since being worded and voluntarily
uttered, it is meant to be heard and it is meant to be understood. It calls for
no sleuth-work.In some respects a conversational avowal of a moods, like ‘I
feel cheerful,’ more closely resemble announcements of sensations like ‘I feel
a tickle’ than they resemble utterances like ‘I feel better’ or ‘I feel capable
of climbing the tree’. Just as it would be absurd to say ‘I feel a tickle but
maybe I haven’t one’, so, in ordinary cases, it would be absurd to say ‘I feel
cheerful but maybe I am not’. But there would be no absurdity in saying ‘I FEEL
better but, to judge by the doctor’s attitude, perhaps I am WORSE’, or ‘I do
FEEL as if I am capable of climbing the tree but maybe I cannot climb it.’This
difference can be brought out in another way. Sometimes it is natural to say ‘I
feel AS IF I could eat a horse’, or ‘I feel AS IF my temperature has returned
to normal’. But, more more immediate conversational avowals, it would seldom if
ever be natural to say ‘I feel AS IF I were in the dumps’, or ‘I feel AS IF I
were bored’, any more than it would be natural to say ‘I feel AS IF I had a
pain’. Not much would be gained by discussing at length why we use ‘feel’ in
these different ways. There are hosts of other ways in which it is also used. I
can say ‘I felt a lump in the mattress’, ‘I felt cold’, ‘I felt queer’, ‘I felt
my jaw-muscles stiffen’, ‘I felt my gorge rise’, ‘I felt my chin with my
thumb’, ‘I felt in vain for the lever’, ‘I felt as if something important was
about to happen’, ‘I felt that there was a flaw somewhere in the argument’, ‘I
felt quite at home’, ‘I felt that he was angry’. A feature common to most
of these uses of ‘feel’ is that the utterer does not want further questions to
be put. They would be either unanswerable questions, or unaskable questions.
That he felt it is enough to settle some debates.That he merely felt it is
enough to show that debates should not even begin. Names of moods, then, are
not the names of feelings. But to be in a particular mood is to be in the mood,
among other things, to feel certain sorts of feelings in certain sorts of
situations. To be in a lazy mood, is, among other things, to tend to have
sensations of lassitude in the limbs when jobs have to be done, to have cosy
feelings of relaxation when the deck-chair is resumed, not to have electricity
feelings when the game begins, and so forth. But we are not thinking
primarily of these feelings when we say that we feel lazy; in fact, we seldom
pay much heed to sensations of these kinds, save when they are abnormally
acute. Is a name of a mood a name
of an emotion? The only tolerable reply is that of course they are, in that
some people some of the time use ‘emotion’. But then we must add that in this
usage an emotion is not something that can be segregated from thinking,
daydreaming, voluntarily doing things, grimacing or feeling pangs and itches.
To have the emotion, in this usage, which we ordinarily refer to as ‘being
bored’, is to be in the mood to think certain sorts of thoughts, and not to
think other sorts, to yawn and not to chuckle, to converse with stilted
politeness, and not to talk with animation, to feel flaccid and not to feel
resilient. Boredom is not some unique distinguishable ingredient, scene or
feature of all that its victim is doing and undergoing. Rather it is the
temporary complexion of that totality. It is not like a gust, a sunbeam, a
shower or the temperature; it is like the morning’s weather. An unstudied
conversational utterance may embody an explicit interest phrase, or a
conversational avowal, such as ‘I want it’, ‘I hope so’, ‘That’s what I
intend’, ‘I quite dislike it’, ‘Surely I am depressed’, ‘I do wonder, too’, ‘I
guess so’ and ‘I am feeling hungry.’The surface grammar (if not logical form)
makes it tempting to misconstrue all the utterances as a description. But in
its primary employment such a conversational avowal as ‘I want it’ is not used
to convey information.‘I want it’ is used to make a request or demand. ‘I want
it’ is no more meant as a contribution to general knowledge than ‘please’. For
a co-conversationalist to respond with the tag ‘Do you?’ or worse, as Grice’s
tutee, with ‘*how* do you *know* that you want it?’ is glaringly inappropriate.
Nor, in their primary employment, are conversational avowals such as ‘I hate
it’ or ‘That’s what I I intend’ used for the purpose of telling one’s addressee
facts about the utterer; or else we should not be surprised to hear them
uttered in the cool, informative tones of voice in which one says ‘HE hates it’
and ‘That’s what he intends’. We expect a conversational avowal, on the
contrary, to be spoken in a revolted and a resolute tone of voice respectively.
It is an utterances of a man in a revolted and resolute frame of mind. A
conversational avowal is a thing said in detestation and resolution and not a
thing said in order to advance biographical knowledge about detestations and
resolutions. A man who notices the unstudied utterances of the utterer,
who may or may not be himself, is, if his interest in the utterer has the
appropriate direction, especially well situated to pass comments upon the
qualities and frames of mind of its author.‘avowal’ as a philosophical lexeme
may not invite an immediate correlate in the Graeco-Roman, ultimately Grecian,
tradition. ‘Confessio’ springs to mind, but this is not what Grice is thinking
about. He is more concerned with issues of privileged access and
incorrigibility, or corrigibility, rather, as per the alleged immediacy of a
first-person report of the form, “I feel that …” . Grice does use ‘avowal’
often especially in the early stages, when the logical scepticism about
incorrigibility comes under attack. Just to be different, Grice is interested
in the corrigibility of the avowal. The issue is of some importance in his
account of the act of communication, and how one can disimplicate what one
means. Grice loves to play with his tutee doubting as to whether he means that
p or q. Except at Oxford, the whole thing has a ridiculous ring to it. I want
you to bring me a paper by Friday. You mean the newspaper? You very well know
what I mean. But perhaps you do not. Are you sure you mean a philosophy paper
when you utter, ‘I want you to bring a paper by Friday’? As Grice notes, in
case of self-deception and egcrateia, it may well be that the utterer does not
know what he desires, if not what he intends, if anything. Freud and Foucault
run galore. The topic will interest a collaborator of Grice’s, Pears, with his
concept of ‘motivated irrationality.’ Grice likes to discuss a category
mistake. I may be categorically mistaken but I am not categorically
confused. Now when it comes to avowal-avowal, it is only natural that if he is
interested in Aristotle on ‘hedone,’ Grice would be interested in Aristotle
on ‘lupe.’ This is very philosophical, as Urmson agrees. Can one ‘fake’ pain?
Why would one fake pain? Oddly, this is for Grice the origin of language. Is
pleasure just the absence of pain? Liddell and Soctt have “λύπη” and render it
as pain of body, oἡδον; also, sad plight or condition, but also pain of mind,
grief; “ά; δῆγμα δὲ λύπης οὐδὲν ἐφ᾽ ἧπαρ προσικνεῖται; τί γὰρ καλὸν ζῆν βίοτον,
ὃς λύπας φέρει; ἐρωτικὴ λ.’ λύπας προσβάλλειν;” “λ. φέρειν τινί; oχαρά.” Oddly,
Grice goes back to pain in Princeton, since it is explored by Smart in his
identity thesis. Take pain. Surely, Grice tells the Princetonians, it
sounds harsh, to echo Berkeley, to say that it is the brain of Smith being in
this or that a state which is justified by insufficient evidence; whereas it
surely sounds less harsh that it is the C-fibres that constitute his ‘pain,’
which he can thereby fake. Grice distinguishes between a complete unstructured
utterance token – “Ouch” – versus a complete syntactically structured erotetic
utterance of the type, “Are you in pain?”. At the Jowett, Corpus Barnes has
read Ogden and says ‘Ouch’ (‘Oh’) bears an ‘emotional’ or ‘emotive’
communicatum provided there is an intention there somewhere. Otherwise, no
communicatum occurs. But if there is an intention, the ‘Oh’ can always be a
fake. Grice distinguishes between a ‘fake’ and a ‘sneak.’ If U intends A to
perceive ‘Oh’ as a fake, U means that he is in pain. If there is a sneaky
intention behind the utterance, which U does NOT intend his A to recognise, there
is no communicatum. Grice criticises emotivism as rushing ahead to analyse a
nuance before exploring what sort of a nuance it is. Surely there is more to
the allegedly ‘pseudo-descriptive’ ‘x is good,’ than U meaning that U
emotionally approves of x. In his ‘myth,’ Grice uses pain magisterially as an
excellent example for a privileged-access allegedly incorrigible avowal, and
stage 0 in his creature progression. By uttering ‘Oh!,’ under voluntary
control, Barnes means, iconically, that he is in pain. Pain fall under the
broader keyword: emotion, as anger does. Cf. Aristotle on the emotion in De
An., Rhet., and Eth. Nich. Knowing that at Oxford, if you are a classicist, you
are not a philosopher, Grice never explores the Stoic, say, approach to pain, or
lack thereof (“Which is good, since Walter Pater did it for me!”). Refs.: “Can
I have a pain in my tail?” The H. P. Grice Papers, BANC MSS 90/135c, The
Bancroft Library, The University of California, Berkeley.
conversational benevolence: Grice uses ‘conversational benevolence’ narrowly, to refer
to the assumption that conversationalists will agree to make a contribution
appropriate to the shared purposes of the exhcnage. It contrasts with the
limiting conversational self-love, which is again taken narrowly to indicate
that conversationalists are assumed to be conversationally ‘benevolent,’ in the
interpretation above, provided doing that does not get them into unnecessary
trouble. The type of rationality that Grice sees in conversational is one that
sees conversation as ‘rational co-operation.’ So it is obvious that he has to
invoke some level of benevolence. When tutoring his rather egoistic tutees he
had to be careful, so he hastened to add a principle of conversational
self-love. It was different when lecturing outside a tutorial! In fact
‘benevolence’ here is best understood as ‘altruism’. So, if there is a
principle of conversational egoism, there is a correlative principle of
conversational altruism. If Grice uses ‘self-love,’ there is nothing about ‘love,’
in ‘benevolence.’ Butler may have used ‘other-love’! Even if of course we must
start with the Grecians! We must not forget that Plato and Aristotle despised
"autophilia", the complacency and self-satisfaction making it into
the opposite of "epimeleia heautou” in Plato’s Alcibiades. Similarly, to
criticize Socratic ethics as a form of egoism in opposition to a selfless care
of others is inappropriate. Neither a self-interested seeker of wisdom nor a
dangerous teacher of self-love, Socrates, as the master of epimeleia heautou,
is the hinge between the care of self and others. One has to be careful here. A
folk-etymological connection between ‘foam’ may not be needed – when the Romans
had to deal with Grecian ‘aphrodite.’ This requires that we look for another
linguistic botany for Grecian ‘self-love’ that Grice opposes to ‘benevolentia.’
Hesiod derives Aphrodite from “ἀφρός,” ‘sea-foam,’ interpreting the name as
"risen from the foam", but most modern scholars regard this as a
spurious folk etymology. Early modern scholars of classical mythology attempted
to argue that Aphrodite's name was of Griceain or Indo-European origin, but
these efforts have now been mostly abandoned. Aphrodite's name is generally
accepted to be of non-Greek, probably Semitic, origin, but its exact derivation
cannot be determined. Scholars in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries, accepting Hesiod's "foam" etymology as genuine, analyzed
the second part of Aphrodite's name as -odítē "wanderer" or -dítē
"bright". Janda, also accepting Hesiod's etymology, has argued in
favor of the latter of these interpretations and claims the story of a birth
from the foam as an Indo-European mytheme. Similarly, an Indo-European compound
abʰor-, very" and dʰei- "to shine" have been proposed, also
referring to Eos. Other have argued that these hypotheses are unlikely since
Aphrodite's attributes are entirely different from those of both Eos and the
Vedic deity Ushas.A number of improbable non-Greek etymologies have also been
suggested. One Semitic etymology compares Aphrodite to the Assyrian ‘barīrītu,’
the name of a female demon that appears in Middle Babylonian and Late
Babylonian texts. Hammarström looks to Etruscan, comparing eprϑni
"lord", an Etruscan honorific loaned into Greek as πρύτανις.This
would make the theonym in origin an honorific, "the lady".Most
scholars reject this etymology as implausible, especially since Aphrodite
actually appears in Etruscan in the borrowed form Apru (from Greek Aphrō, clipped
form of Aphrodite). The medieval Etymologicum Magnum offers a highly contrived
etymology, deriving Aphrodite from the compound habrodíaitos (ἁβροδίαιτος),
"she who lives delicately", from habrós and díaita. The alteration
from b to ph is explained as a "familiar" characteristic of Greek
"obvious from the Macedonians". It is much easier with the Romans. Lewis and Short have ‘ămor,’ old form “ămŏs,”
“like honos, labos, colos, etc.’ obviously from ‘amare,’ and which they render
as ‘love,’ as in Grice’s “conversational self-love.” Your tutor will reprimand
you if you spend too much linguistic botany on ‘eros.’ “Go straight to
‘philos.’” But no. There are philosophical usages of ‘eros,’ especially when it
comes to the Grecian philosophers Grice is interested in: Aristotle reading
Plato, which becomes Ariskant reading Plathegel. So, Liddell and Scott have
“ἔρως” which of course is from a verb, or two: “ἕραμαι,” “ἐράω,” and which they
render as “love, mostly of the sexual passion, ““θηλυκρατὴς ἔ.,” “ἐρῶσ᾽ ἔρωτ᾽
ἔκδημον,” “ἔ. τινός love for one, S.Tr.433, “παίδων” E. Ion67, and “generally,
love of a thing, desire for it,” ““πατρῴας γῆς” “δεινὸς εὐκλείας ἔ.” “ἔχειν
ἔμφυτον ἔρωτα περί τι” Plato, Lg. 782e ; “πρὸς τοὺς λόγους” (love of law),
“ἔρωτα σχὼν τῆς Ἑλλάδος τύραννος γενέσθαι” Hdt.5.32 ; ἔ. ἔχει με c. inf.,
A.Supp.521 ; “θανόντι κείνῳ συνθανεῖν ἔρως μ᾽ ἔχει” S.Fr.953 ; “αὐτοῖς ἦν ἔρως
θρόνους ἐᾶσθαι” Id.OC367 ; ἔ. ἐμπίπτει μοι c. inf., A.Ag.341, cf. Th.6.24 ; εἰς
ἔρωτά τινος ἀφικέσθαι, ἐλθεῖν, Antiph.212.3,Anaxil.21.5 : pl., loves, amours,
“ἀλλοτρίων” Pi.N.3.30 ; “οὐχ ὅσιοι ἔ.” E.Hipp.765 (lyr.) ; “ἔρωτες ἐμᾶς πόλεως”
Ar.Av.1316 (lyr.), etc. ; of dolphins, “πρὸς παῖδας” Arist.HA631a10 :
generally, desires, S.Ant.617 (lyr.). 2. object of love or desire, “ἀπρόσικτοι
ἔρωτες” Pi.N.11.48, cf. Luc.Tim.14. 3. passionate joy, S.Aj.693 (lyr.); the god
of love, Anacr.65, Parm.13, E.Hipp.525 (lyr.), etc.“Έ. ἀνίκατε μάχαν” S.Ant.781
(lyr.) : in pl., Simon.184.3, etc. III. at Nicaea, a funeral wreath, EM379.54.
IV. name of the κλῆρος Ἀφροδίτης, Cat.Cod.Astr.1.168 ; = third κλῆρος,
Paul.Al.K.3; one of the τόποι, Vett.Val.69.16. And they’ll point to you that
the Romans had ‘amor’ AND ‘cupidus’ (which they meant as a transliteration of
epithumia). If for Kant and Grice it is the intention that matters, ill-will
counts. If Smith does not want Jones have a job, Smith has ill-will towards
Jones. This is all Kant and Grice need to call Smith a bad person. It means it
is the ill-will that causes Joness not having a job. A conceptual elucidation.
Interesting from a historical point of view seeing that Grice had introduced a
principle of conversational benevolence (i.e. conversational goodwill) pretty
early. Malevolentia was over-used by Cicero, translating the Grecian. Grice
judges that if Jones fails to get the job that benevolent Smith promised, Smith
may still be deemed, for Kant, if not Aristotle, to have given him the
job. A similar elucidation was carried by Urmson with his idea of
supererogation (heroism and sainthood). For a hero or saint, someones goodwill
but not be good enough! Which does not mean it is ill, either! Refs.: The
source is Grice’s seminar in the first set on ‘Logic and conversation.’ The H.
P. Grice Papers, BANC.
conversational category. One has to be careful here. Grice does speak of this
or that ‘conversational category.’ Seeing that he is ‘echoing,’ as he puts it,
Ariskant, we migt just as well have an entry for each of the four. These would
be the category of conversational quantity, the category of conversational
quality, the category of conversational relation, and the category of
conversational modality. Note that in this rephrasing Grice applies
‘conversational’ directly to the category. As Boethius pointed out (and Grice
loved to read Minio-Paullelo’s edition of Boethus’s commentary on the
Categories), the motivation by Aristotle to posit this or that category was
expository. A mind cannot know a multitude of things, so we have to ‘reduce’
things. It is important to note that while ‘quantitas,’ ‘qualitas’ ‘relatio’
and ‘modus’ are used by Kant, he actually augments the number of categories.
These four would be supra-categories. The sub-categories, or categories
themselves turn out to be twelve. Kant proposed 12 categories: unity,
plurality, and totality for concept of quantity; reality, negation, and
limitation, for the concept of quality; inherence and subsistence, cause and
effect, and community for the concept of relation; and
possibility-impossibility, existence-nonexistence, and necessity and
contingency. Kategorien sind nach Kant apriorisch und unmittelbar gegeben.
Sie sind Werkzeuge des Urteilens und Werkzeuge des Denkens. Als solche dienen
sie nur der Anwendung und haben keine Existenz. Sie bestehen somit nur im
menschlichen Verstand. Sie sind nicht an Erfahrung gebunden.[5] Durch ihre Unmittelbarkeit sind sie auch nicht an
Zeichen gebunden.[6] Kants erkenntnistheoretisches Ziel ist es, über
die Bedingungen der Geltungskraft von Urteilen Auskunft zu geben. Ohne diese
Auskunft können zwar vielerlei Urteile gefällt werden, sie müssen dann
allerdings als „systematische Doktrin(en)“ bezeichnet werden.[7] Kant kritisiert damit das rein analytische Denken
der Wissenschaft als falsch und stellt ihm die Notwendigkeit des
synthetisierenden Denkens gegenüber.[8] Kant begründet die Geltungskraft mit dem Transzendentalen Subjekt.[9] Das Transzendentalsubjekt ist dabei ein reiner
Reflexionsbegriff, welcher das synthetisierende Dritte darstellt (wie in
späteren Philosophien Geist (Hegel), Wille, Macht, Sprache und Wert (Marx)),
das nicht durch die Sinne wahrnehmbar ist. Kant sucht hier die Antwort auf die
Frage, wie der Mensch als vernunftbegabtes Wesen konstituiert werden kann,
nicht in der Analyse, sondern in einer Synthesis.[10]Bei Immanuel Kant, der somit als bedeutender Erneuerer der bis dahin
„vorkritischen“ Kategorienlehre gilt, finden sich zwölf „Kategorien der reinen
Vernunft“. Für Kant sind diese Kategorien Verstandesbegriffe, nicht
aber Ausdruck des tatsächlichen Seins der Dinge an sich. Damit wandelt sich die ontologische Sichtweise der Tradition in eine erkenntnistheoretische Betrachtung, weshalb Kants „kritische“
Philosophie (seit der Kritik der
reinen Vernunft) oft
auch als „Kopernikanische
Wende in der
Philosophie“ bezeichnet wird.Quantität, Qualität, Relation und Modalität sind die vier grundlegenden Urteilsfunktionen des
Verstandes, nach denen die Kategorien gebildet werden. Demnach sind z. B.
der Urteilsfunktion „Quantität“ die Kategorien bzw. Urteile „Einheit“,
„Vielheit“ und „Allheit“ untergeordnet, und der Urteilsfunktion „Relation“ die
Urteile der „Ursache“ und der „Wirkung“.Siehe
auch: Kritik der
reinen Vernunft und Transzendentale
AnalytikBereits
bei Friedrich
Adolf Trendelenburg findet
man den Hinweis auf die verbreitete Kritik, dass Kant die den Kategorien zugrunde
liegenden Urteilsformen nicht systematisch hergeleitet und damit als notwendig
begründet hat. Einer der Kritikpunkte ist dabei, dass die Kategorien sich
teilweise auf Anschauungen (Einzelheit, Realität, Dasein), teilweise auf
Abstraktionen wie Zusammenfassen, Begrenzen oder Begründen (Vielheit, Allheit,
Negation, Limitation, Möglichkeit, Notwendigkeit) beziehen.
conversational co-operation – used by Grice WOW:368 – previously, ‘rational
cooperation’ – what cooperation is not rational? Grice says that if Smith
promised Jones a job; Jones doesn’t get it. Smith must be DEEMED to have given
the job to Jones. It’s the intention, as Kant shows, the pure motive, that
matters. Ditto for communication. If Blackburn draws a skull, he communicates
that there is danger. If his addressee fails to recognise the emissor’s
intention the emissor will still be deemed to have communicated that there is
danger. So communication does NOT require co-operation. His analysis of
“emissor communicates that p” is not one of “emissor successfully communicates
that p,” because “communicates” reduces to “intends” not to ‘fulfilled
intention.’ Cooperation enters when we go beyond ONE act of communication. To
communicate is to give information and to influence another, and it is also to
receive information and to be influenced by another. When these communicative
objectives are made explicit, helpfulness or cooperation becomes essential. He
uses ‘converational cooperation” and “supreme principle of conversational
cooperation” (369). He uses ‘supreme conversational principle” of “cooperativeness”
(369), to avoid seeing the conversational imperatives as an unorganized heap of
conversational obligations. Another variant is Grice’s use of “principle of
conversational co-operation.” He also uses “principle of conversational
rational co-operation.” Note that irrational or non-rational co-operation is
not an oxymoron. Another expression is conversational cooperative rationality.
So Grice was amused that you can just as well refer to ‘cooperative
rationality” or “rational cooperation,” “a category shift if ever there was
one.”
conversational explicitum: If the emissor draws a skull what he explicitly conveys is
that this is a skull. This is the EPLICITUM. If he communicates that there is
danger, that’s via some further reasoning. That associates a skull with death. Grice’s
example is Grice displaying his bandaged leg. Strictly, he communicates that he
has a bandaged leg. Second, that his leg is bandaged (the bandage may be fake).
And third, that he cannot play cricket. It all started in Oxford when they
started to use ‘imply’ in a sense other than the ‘logical’ one. This got Grice
immersed in a deep exploration of types of ‘implication.’ There is the
implicatum, and the implicitum, both from ‘implico.’ As correlative there is
the explicatio, which yields both the explicatum and the explicitum. Grice has
under the desideratum of conversational clarity that a conversationalist is
assumed to make the point of his conversational contribution ‘explicit.’ So in
his polemic with G. A. Paul, Grice knows that the ‘doubt-or-denial’ condition
will be at the level NOT of the explicitum or explicatum. Surely an implicatum
can be CANCELLED explicitly. Grice uses ‘contextual’ or ‘explicit,’ here but
grants that the ‘contextual’ may be subsumed under the ‘explicit.’ It is when the sub-perceptual utterance is
copulated with the formulation of the explicatum of the implicatum that Grice
shows G. A. Paul that the statement is still ‘true,’ and which Grice sees as a reivindication
of the causal theory of perception. In the twenty or so examples of
philosophical mistakes, both in “Causal” and “Prolegomena,” all the mistakes
can be rendered back to the ‘explicatum’ versus ‘implicatum’ distinction.
Unfortunately, each requires a philosophical background to draw all the
‘implications,’ and Grice has been read by people without a philosophical
background who go on to criticise him for ignoring things where he never had
focused his attention on. His priority is to deal with these philosophical
mistakes. He also expects the philosopher to come up with a general
methodological statement. Grice distinguishes between the conversational
explicitum and the conversational explicatum. Grice plays with ‘explicit’ and
‘implicit’ at various places. He often uses ‘explicit’and ‘implicit’
adverbially: the utterer explicitly conveys that p versus the utterer
implicitly conveys that p (hints that p, suggests that p, indicates that p,
implicates that p, implies that p). Grice regards that both dimensions form
part of the total act of signification, accepting as a neutral variant, that
the utterer has signified that p.
conversational
futilitarianism: from futile: Can there
be a futilitarian theory of communication? Grice’s! The issue is a complex one.
Some may interpret Grice’s theory as resting “on Kantian grounds.” Not
everybody was present at Grice’s seminars at Oxford on helpfulness, where he
discusses the kind of reasoning that a participant to a conversation will
display in assuming that his co-conversationalist is being conversationally
helpful, conversationally benevolent, conversationally ‘altruist,’ almost, and
conversationally, well, co-operative. So, as to the basis for this. We can
simplify the scenario by using the plural. A conversationalist assumes that his
co-conversationalist is being co-operative on Kantian grounds. What are the
alternatives, if any? One can re-describe “Kantian grounds” as “moral grounds.”
Conversationalists abide with the principle of conversational helpfulness on
Kantian, moral grounds. Kant wrote the “Critique of practical reason,” so Kant
would allow for a rephrase of this as follows. Conversationalists abide with
the principle of conversational helpfulness on practical, indeed moral, grounds
– which is the topic of Grice’s last Kant lecture at Stanford. How to turn a
‘counsel of prudence,’ which is ‘practical’ into something that covers Kant’s
“Kategorische Imperativ.” And then there’s the utilitarian. Utilitarianism IS a
moral theory, or a meta-ethical theory. So one would have to allow for the
possibility that conversationalists abide by the principle of conversational
helpfulness on “utilitarian grounds,” which would be “practical grounds,” AND
“moral grounds,” if not Kantian grounds. In any case, the topic WAS raised, and
indeed, for someone like Grice who wrote on ‘pleasure,’ and ‘happiness,’ it
does not seem futilitarian to see him as a futilitarian. Unfortunately, you
need a serious philosophical background to appreciate all this, since it
touches on the very serious, or ‘deep,’ as Grice would say, “and fascinating,”
suburbia or practicality. But surely the keyword ‘utilitarian’ as per
“conversationalists abide by the principle of conversational helpfulness on
utilitarian grounds” is a possibility. Cf. Grice’s reference to the ‘least
effort,’ and in the Oxford lectures on helpfulness to a conversationalist not
getting involved in “undue effort,” or getting into “unnecessary trouble.”
“Undue effort” is ‘forbidden’ by the desideratum of conversational candour; the
‘unnecessary trouble’ is balanced by the ‘principle of conversational
self-love.’ And I don’t think Kant would ever considered loving himself! Grice
being keen on neuter adjectives, he saw the ‘utile’ at the root of
utilitarianism. There is much ‘of value’ in the old Roman concept of ‘utile.’
Lewis and Short have it as Neutr. absol.: ūtĭle , is, n., what is useful, the
useful: omne tulit punctum, qui miscuit utile dulci, Hor. A. P. 343: “bonus
atque fidus Judex honestum praetulit utili,” id. C. 4, 9, 41: “utilium tardus
provisor,” id. A. P. 164: “sententiae de utilibus honestisque,” Quint. 3, 8,
13; cf. id. 1, 2, 29. —Ultimately, Grice’s meta-ethics,
like Hare’s, Nowell-Smith’s, Austin’s, Hampshire’s, and Warnock’s derives into
a qualified utilitarianism, with notions of agreeableness and eudaemonia being
crucial. Grice well knows that for Aristotle pleasure is just one out of the
three sources for phulia; the others being profit, and virtue. As an
English utilitarian, or English futilitarian, Grice plays with Griceian
pleasures. Democritus, as Grice remarks, seems to be the earliest
philosopher to have categorically embraced a hedonistic philosophy. Democritus
claims that the supreme goal of life is contentment or cheerfulness, stating
that joy and sorrow are the distinguishing mark of things beneficial and
harmful. The Cyrenaics are an ultra-hedonist Grecoam school of philosophy
founded by Aristippus. Many of the principles of the school were set by his
grandson, Aristippus the Younger, and Theodorus. The Cyrenaic school is one of
the earliest Socratic schools. The Cyrenaics teach that the only intrinsic
‘agathon’ is pleasure ‘hedone,’ which means not just the absence of pain, but a
positively enjoyable momentary sensation. A physical pleasure is stronger than
a pleasure of anticipation or memory. The Cyrenaics do, however, recognize the
value of social obligation, and that pleasure may be gained from altruism. The
Cyrenaic school dies out within a century, and is replaced by
Epicureanism. The Cyrenaics are known for their sceptical epistemology.
The Cyrenaics reduce logic to a basic doctrine concerning the criterion of
truth. The Cyrenaics think that one can only know with certainty his immediate
sense-experience, e. g., that he is having a sweet sensation. But one can know
nothing about the nature of the object that causes this sensation, e.g., that
honey is sweet. The Cyrenaics also deny that we can have knowledge of what the
experience of others are like. All knowledge is immediate sensation. Sensation
is a motion which is purely subjective, and is painful, indifferent or
pleasant, according as it is violent, tranquil or gentle. Further, sensation is
entirely individual and can in no way be described as constituting absolute
objective knowledge. Feeling, therefore, is the only possible criterion of
knowledge and of conduct. The way of being affected is alone knowable. Thus the
sole aim for everyone should be pleasure. Cyrenaicism deduces a single,
universal aim for all which is pleasure. Furthermore, feeling is momentary and
homogeneous. It follows that past and future pleasure have no real existence
for us, and that in present pleasure there is no distinction of kind. Socrates
speaks of the higher pleasure of the intellect. The Cyrenaics denies the validity
of this distinction and say that bodily pleasure (hedone somatike), being more
simple and more intense, is preferable. Momentary pleasure, preferably of a
physical kind, is the only good for a human. However, an action which gives
immediate pleasure can create more than their equivalent of pain. The wise
person should be in control (egcrateia) of pleasure rather than be enslaved to
it, otherwise pain results, and this requires judgement to evaluate this or
that pleasure of life. Regard should be paid to law and custom, because even
though neither law nor custom have an intrinsic value on its own, violating law
or custom leads to an unpleasant penalty being imposed by others. Likewise,
friendship and justice are useful because of the pleasure they provide. Thus
the Cyrenaics believe in the hedonistic value of social obligation and
altruistic behaviour. Epicureanism is a system of philosophy based upon
the teachings of Epicurus, an atomic materialist, following in the steps of
Democritus and Leucippus. Epicurus’s materialism leads him to a general stance
against superstition or the idea of divine intervention. Following Aristippus,
Epicurus believes that the greatest good is to seek modest, sustainable
pleasure in the form of a state of tranquility and freedom from fear (ataraxia)
and absence of bodily pain (aponia) through knowledge of the workings of the
world and the limits of desire. The combination of these two states, ataraxia
and aponia, is supposed to constitute happiness in its highest form. Although
Epicureanism is a form of hedonism, insofar as it declares pleasure as the sole
intrinsic good, its conception of absence of pain as the greatest pleasure and
its advocacy of a simple life make it different from hedonism as it is commonly
understood. In the Epicurean view, the highest pleasure (tranquility and
freedom from fear) is obtained by knowledge, friendship and living a virtuous
and temperate life. Epicurus lauds the enjoyment of a simple pleasure, by which
he means abstaining from the bodily desire, such as sex and the appetite,
verging on asceticism. Epicurus argues that when eating, one should not eat too
richly, for it could lead to dissatisfaction later, such as the grim
realization that one could not afford such delicacies in the future. Likewise,
sex could lead to increased lust and dissatisfaction with the sexual partner.
Epicurus does not articulate a broad system of social ethics that has survived
but had a unique version of the golden rule. It is impossible to live a
pleasant life without living wisely and well and justly, agreeing neither to
harm nor be harmed, and it is impossible to live wisely and well and justly
without living a pleasant life. Epicureanism is originally a challenge to
Platonism, though later it became the main opponent of Stoicism. Epicurus and
his followers shun politics. After the death of Epicurus, his school is headed
by Hermarchus. Later many Epicurean societies flourish in the Late Hellenistic
era and during the Roman era, such as those in Antiochia, Alexandria, Rhodes
and Ercolano. The poet Lucretius is its most known Roman proponent. By the end
of the Roman Empire, having undergone attack and repression, Epicureanism has
all but died out, and would be resurrected in the seventeenth century by the
atomist Pierre Gassendi. Some writings by Epicurus have survived. Some scholars
consider the epic poem “De natura rerum” by Lucretius to present in one unified
work the core arguments and theories of Epicureanism. Many of the papyrus
scrolls unearthed at the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum are Epicurean
texts. At least some are thought to have belonged to the Epicurean
Philodemus. Cf. Barnes on epicures and connoiseurs. Many a controversy
arising out of this or that value judgement is settled by saying, ‘I like it
and you don’t, and that s the end of the matter.’ I am content to adopt this
solution of the difficulty on matters such as food and drink. Even here,
though, we admit the existence of epicures and connoisseurs.Why are we not
content to accept the same solution on every matter where value is concerned?
The reason I am not so content lies in the fact that the action of one man
dictated by his approval of something is frequently incompatible with the
action of another man dictated by his approval of something. This is
obviously philosophical, especially for the Grecian hedonistic Epicureians made
popular by Marius and Walter Pater at Oxford. L and S have "ἡδονή,” also
“ἁδονά,” or in a chorus in tragedy, “ἡδονά,” ultimately from "ἥδομαι,”
which they render it as “enjoyment, pleasure,” “prop. of sensual pleasure.” αἱ
τοῦ σώματος or περὶ τὸ σῶμα ἡ.; αἱ κατὰ τὸ σῶμα ἡ. Plato, Republic, 328d;
σωματικαὶ ἡ. Arist. Eth. Nich. 1151a13; αἱ περὶ πότους καὶ περὶ ἐδωδὰς ἡ.
Plato, Republic, 389e; but also ἀκοῆς ἡ; ἡ ἀπὸ τοῦ εἰδέναι ἡ. Pl. R. 582b; of
malicious pleasure, ἡ ἐπὶ τοῖς τῶν φίλων κακοῖς, ἐπὶ ταῖς λοιδορίαις ἡ.; ἡδονῇ
ἡσσᾶσθαι, ἡδοναῖς χαρίζεσθαι, to give way to pleasure; Pl. Lg. 727c; κότερα
ἀληθείη χρήσομαι ἢ ἡδονῆ; shall I speak truly or so as to humour you? εἰ ὑμῖν
ἡδονὴ τοῦ ἡγεμονεύειν; ἡ. εἰσέρχεταί τιϝι εἰ, “one feels pleasure at the
thought that …” ; ἡδονὴν ἔχειν τινός to be satisfied with; ἡδονὴν ἔχει, φέρει;
ἡδονὴ ἰδέσθαι (θαῦμα ἰδέσθαι), of a temple; δαίμοσιν πρὸς ἡδονήν; ὃ μέν ἐστι πρὸς ἡ.; πρὸς ἡ. Λέγειν, “to speak
so as to please another”; δημηγορεῖν; οὐ πρὸς ἡ. οἱ ἦν τὰ ἀγγελλόμενα; πάντα
πρὸς ἡ. ἀκούοντας; later πρὸς ἡδονῆς εἶναί τινι; καθ᾽ ἡδονὴν κλύειν; καθ᾽
ἡδονήν ἐστί μοι; καθ᾽ ἡ. τι δρᾶν, ποιεῖν; καθ᾽ ἡδονὰς τῷ δήμῳ τὰ πράγματα
ἐνδιδόναι; ἐν ἡδονῇ ἐστί τινι, it is a pleasure or delight to another; ἐν ἡδονῇ
ἔχειν τινάς, to take pleasure in them; ἐν ἡδονῇ ἄρχοντες, oοἱ λυπηροί; μεθ᾽
ἡδονῆς; ὑφ᾽ ἡδονῆς; ὑπὸ τῆς ἡ; ἡδονᾷ with pleasure; a pleasure; ἡδοναὶ
τραγημάτων sweetmeats; plural., desires after pleasure, pleasant lusts. In
Ionic philosophers, taste, flavour, usually joined with χροιή. Note that
Aristotle uses somatike hedone. As a Lit. Hum. Oxon., and especially as a
tutee of Hardie at Corpus, Grice is almost too well aware of the centrality of
hedone in Aristotles system. Pleasure is sometimes rendered “placitum,” as in
“ad placitum,” in scholastic philosophy, but that is because scholastic
philosophy is not as Hellenic as it should be. Actually, Grice prefers
“agreeable.” One of Grices requisites for an ascription of eudaemonia (to have
a fairy godmother) precisely has the system of ends an agent chooses to realise
to be an agreeable one. One form or mode of agreeableness, Grice notes, is,
unless counteracted, automatically attached to the attainment of an object of
desire, such attainment being routinely a source of satisfaction. The
generation of such a satisfaction thus provides an independent ground for
preferring one system of ends to another. However, some other mode of
agreeableness, such as e. g. being a source of delight, which is not routinely
associated with the fulfilment of this or that desire, could discriminate,
independently of other features relevant to such a preference, between one
system of ends and another. Further, a system of ends the operation of which is
especially agreeable is stable not only vis-à-vis a rival system, but also
against the somewhat weakening effect of ‘egcrateia,’ incontinence, or akrasia,
if you mustn’t. A disturbing influence, as Aristotle knows from experience, is
more surely met by a principle in consort with a supporting attraction than by
the principle alone. Grices favourite hedonistic implicatum was “please,” as in
“please, please me,” by The Beatles. While Grice
claims to love Kantotle, he cannot hide his greater reverence for Aristotle,
instilled early on at Corpus. An Oxonian need not recite Kant in what during
the Second World War was referred to as the Hun, and while Aristotle was a
no-no at Clifton (koine!), Hardie makes Grice love him. With eudaemonia, Grice
finds a perfect synthetic futilitarian concept to balance his innate analytic
tendencies. There is Grecian eudaemonism and there is Griceian eudaemonism. L
and S are not too helpful. They have “εὐδαιμονία” (Ion. –ιη), which they render
not as happiness, but as “prosperity, good fortune, opulence;” “χρημάτων
προσόδῳ καὶ τῇ ἄλλῃ εὐ.;” of countries; “μοῖρ᾽ εὐδαιμονίας.” In a
second use, the expression is indeed rendered as “true, full happiness;”
“εὐ. οὐκ ἐν βοσκήμασιν οἰκεῖ οὐδ᾽ ἐν χρυσῷ; εὐ. ψυχῆς, oκακοδαιμονίη, cf. Pl.
Def. 412d, Arist. EN 1095a18, sometimes personified as a divinity. There is
eudaemonia and there is kakodaemonia. Of course, Grice’s locus classicus is EN
1095a18, which is Grice’s fairy godmother, almost. Cf. Austin on agathon and
eudaimonia in Aristotle’s ethics, unearthed by Urmson and Warnock, a response
to an essay by Prichard in “Philosophy” on the meaning of agathon in
Aristotle’s ethics. Pritchard argues that Aristotle regards “agathon” to mean
conducive to “eudaemonia,” and, consequently, that Aristotle maintains that
every deliberate action stems, ultimately, from the desire for eudaemonia.
Austin finds fault with this. First, agathon in Aristotle does not have a
single usage, and a fortiori not the one Pritchard suggests. Second, if one has
to summarise the usage of “agathon” in one phrase, “being desired” cannot
fulfil this function, for there are other objects of desire besides “τό
άγαθόν,” even if Davidson would disagree. Prichard endeavours to specify what
Aristotle means by αγαθον. In some contexts, “agathon” seems to mean simply
that being desired or an ultimate or non‐ultimate end or aim of a person. In other
contexts, “αγαθον” takes on a normative quality. For his statements to have
content, argues Prichard, Aristotle must hold that when we pursue something of
a certain kind, such as an honour, we pursue it as “a good.” Prichard argues
that by "αγαθον" Aristotle actually means, except in the Nicomachean
Ethics, conducive to eudaemonia, and holds that when a man acts deliberately,
he does it from a desire to attain eudaemonia. Prichard attributes this
position to Plato as well, despite the fact that both thinkers make statements
inconsistent with this view of man’s ultimate aim. Grice takes life seriously:
philosophical biology. He even writes an essay entitled “Philosophy of life,”
listed is in PGRICE. Grice bases his thought on his tutee Ackrill’s Dawes Hicks
essay for the BA, who quotes extensively from Hardie. Grice also reviews that
“serious student of Greek philosophy,” Austin, in his response to Prichard,
Grice’s fairy godmother. Much the most plausible conjecture regarding what
Grecian eudaimonia means is that eudaemonia is to be understood as the name for
that state or condition which one’s good dæmon would, if he could, ensure for
one. One’s good dæmon is a being motivated, with respect to one, solely by
concern for one’s eudaemonia, well-being or happiness. To change the idiom,
eudæmonia is the general characterisation of what a full-time and unhampered
fairy godmother would secure for one. Grice is concerned with the specific
system of ends that eudaemonia consists for Ariskant. Grice borrows, but never
returns, some reflections by his fomer tuttee at St. Johns, Ackrill. Ackrills
point is about the etymological basis for eudaemonia, from eudaemon, the good
dæmon, as Grice prefers. Grice thinks the metaphor should be disimplicated, and
taken literally. Grice concludes with a set of ends that justify our ascription
of eudaemonia to the agent. For Grice, as for Kantotle, telos and eudaemonia
are related in subtle ways. For eudaemonia we cannot deal with just one end,
but a system of ends, although such a system may be a singleton. Grice
specifies a subtle way of characterising end so that a particular ascription of
an end may entail an ascription of eudaemonia. Grice follows the textual
criticism of his tutee Ackrill, in connection with the Socratic point that
eudaemonia is literally related to the eudaemon. In PGRICE Warner explores
Grice’s concept of eudaemonia. Warner is especially helpful with the third
difficult Carus lecture by Grice, a metaphysical defence of absolute value.
Warner connects with Grice in such topics as the philosophy of perception seen
in an evolutionary light and the Kantotelian idea of eudaemonia. In response to
Warner’s overview of the oeuvre of Grice for the festschrift that Warner
co-edited with Grandy, Grice refers to the editors collectively as Richards.
While he feels he has to use “happiness,” Grice is always having Aristotle’s
eudaemonia in mind. The implicatum of Smith is ‘happy’ is more complex than
Kantotle thinks. Austen knew. For Emma, you decide if youre happy. Ultimately,
for Grice, the rational life is the happy life. Grice took life seriously:
philosophical biology! Grice is clear when reprinting the Descartes essay in
WOW, where he does quote from Descartes sources quite a bit, even if he
implicates he is no Cartesian scholar – what Oxonian would? It concerns
certainty. And certainty is originally Cantabrigian (Moore), but also Oxonian,
in parts. Ayer says that to know is to assure that one is certain or sure. So
he could connect. Grice will at various stages of his development play and
explore this authoritative voice of introspection: incorrigibility and
privileged access. He surely wants to say that a declaration of an intention is
authoritative. And Grice plays with meaning, too when provoking Malcolm in a
don recollection: Grice: I want you to bring me a paper tomorrow. Strawson: You
mean a newspaper? Grice: No, a philosophical essay. Strawson: How do you know?
Are you certain you mean that? Grice finds not being certain about what one
means Strawsonian and otiose. Tutees. Grice loved to place himself in the role
of the philosophical hack, dealing with his tutees inabilities, a whole week
long – until he could find refreshment in para-philosophy on the Saturday
morning. Now, the logical form of certain is a trick. Grice would symbolize it
as numbering of operators. If G ψs p, G ψs ψs p, and G ψs ψs ψs p, and so ad infinitum. This is a bit like certainty. But
not quite! When he explores trust, Grice considers something like a backing for
it. But does conclusive evidence yield certainty? He doesnt think so.
Certainty, for Grice should apply to any psychological attitude, state or
stance. And it is just clever of him that when he had to deliver his BA lecture
he chooses ‘intention and uncertainty’ as its topic, just to provoke. Not
surprisingly, the “Uncertainty” piece opens with the sceptics challenge. And he
will not conclude that the intender is certain. Only that theres some good
chance (p ˃0.5) that what he intends will get through! When there is a will,
there is a way, when there is a neo-Prichardian will-ing, there is a
palæo-Griceian way-ing! Perhaps by know Moore means certain. Grice was amused
by the fact that Moore thought that he knew that behind the curtains at the
lecture hall at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, there was a window,
when there wasnt. He uses Moores misuse of know – according to Malcolm – both in
Causal theory and Prolegomena. And of course this relates to the topic of the
sceptics implicature, above, with the two essays Scepticism and Common sense
and Moore and Philosophers Paradoxes repr. partially in WOW. With regard to
certainty, it is interesting to compare it, as Grice does, not so much with
privileged access, but with incorrigibility. Do we not
have privileged access to our own beliefs and desires? And, worse still,
may it not be true that at least some of our avowals of our beliefs and desires are
incorrigible? One of Grices problems is, as he puts it, how to accommodate
privileged access and, maybe, incorrigibility. This or that a
second-order state may be, in some fashion, incorrigible. On the contrary,
for Grice, this or that lower-order, first-order judging is only a
matter for privileged access. Note that while he is happy to allow
privileged access to lower-order souly states, only those who are replicated at
a higher-order or second-order may, in some fashion, be said to count as an incorrigible
avowal. It rains. P judges it rains (privileged access). P judges that P judges
that it rains (incorrigible). The justification is conversational. It rains
says the P, or expresses the P. Grice wants to be able to say that if a P
expresses that p, the P judges2 that p. If the P expresses that
it rains, the P judges that he judges that it rains. In this fashion, his
second-order, higher-order judging is incorrigible, only. Although Grice may
allow for it to be corrected by a third-order judging. It is not required that
we should stick with judging here. Let Smith return the money that he owes to
Jones. If P expresses !p, P ψ-s2 that !p. His second-order,
higher-order buletic state is incorrigible (if ceteris paribus is not corrected
by a third-order buletic or doxastic state). His first-order buletic state is a
matter only of privileged access. For a study of conversation as rational
co-operation this utilitarian revival modifies the standard exegesis of Grice
as purely Kantian, and has him more in agreement with the general Oxonian
meta-ethical scene. Refs.: Under ‘futilitarianism,’ we cover Grice’s views on
‘pleasure’ (he has an essay on “Pleasure,”) and “eudaemonia” (He has an essay
on ‘happiness’); other leads are given under ‘grecianism,’ since this is the
Grecian side to Grice’s Ariskant; for specific essays on ‘pleasure,’ and
‘eudaimonia,’ the keywords ‘pleasure’ and ‘happiness’ are useful. A good source
is the essay on happiness in “Aspects,” which combines ‘eudaemonia’ and
‘agreebleness,’ his futilitarianism turned Kantotelian. BANC.
conversational helpfulness: There is a fashion in which to help is to cooperate, but
co-operate, strictly, requires operation by A and operation by B. We do use
cooperate loosely. “She is very cooperative.” “Help” seems less formal. One can
help without ever engaging or honouring the other’s goal. I can help you buy a
house, say. So the principle of conversational cooperation is stricter and
narrower than the principle of conversational helpfulness. Cooperation involves
reciprocity and mutuality in a way that helpfulness does not. That’s why Grice
needs to emphasise that there is an expectation of MUTUAL helpfulness. One is
expected to be helpful, and one expects the other to be helpful. Grice was
doubtful about the implicature of ‘co-operative,’ – after all, who at Oxford
wants a ‘co-operative.’ It sounds anti-Oxonian. So Grice elaborates on ‘helping
others’ and ‘assuming others will help you’ in the event that we ‘are doing
something together.’ Does this equate cooperation, he wonders. Just in case, he
uses ‘helpfulness’ as a variant. There are other concepts he plays with,
notably ‘altruism,’ and ‘benevolence,’ or other-love.’Helpfulness is Grice’s
favourite virtue. Grice is clear that reciprocity is essential here. One
exhibits helpfulness and expects helpfulness from his conversational partner. He
dedicates a set of seven lectures to it, entitled as follows. Lecture 1,
Prolegomena; Lecture 2: Logic and Conversation; Lecture 3: Further notes on
logic and conversation; Lecture 4: Indicative conditionals; Lecture 5: Us
meaning and intentions; Lecture 6: Us meaning, sentence-meaning, and
word-meaning; and Lecture 7: Some models for implicature. I hope they dont
expect me to lecture on James! Grice admired James, but not vice
versa. Grice entitled the set as being Logic and Conversation. That is the
title, also, of the second lecture. Grice keeps those titles seeing that it was
way the whole set of lectures were frequently cited, and that the second
lecture had been published under that title in Davidson and Harman, The
Logic of Grammar. The content of each lecture is indicated below. In
the first, Grice manages to quote from Witters. In the last, he
didnt! The original set consisted of seven lectures. To wit:
Prolegomena, Logic and conversation, Further notes on logic and conversation,
Indicative Conditionals, Us meaning and intentions, Us meaning,
sentence-meaning, and word meaning, and Some models for implicature. They were
pretty successful at Oxford. While the notion of an implicatum had been
introduced by Grice at Oxford, even in connection with a principle of
conversational helpfulness, he takes the occasion now to explore the type of
rationality involved. Observation of the principle of conversational
helpfulness is rational (reasonable) along the following lines: anyone who
cares about the two central goals to conversation (give/receive information,
influence/be influened) is expected to have an interest in participating in a
conversation that is only going to be profitable given that it is conducted
along the lines set by the principle of conversational helpfulness. In
Prolegomena he lists Austin, Strawson, Hare, Hart, and himself, as victims of a
disregard for the implicatum. In the third lecture he introduces his razor,
Senses are not to be muliplied beyond necessity. In Indicative conditionals he
tackles Strawson on if as not representing the horse-shoe of Whitehead and Russell.
The next two lectures on the meaning by the utterer and intentions, and meaning
by the utterer, sentence-meaning, and word-meaning refine his earlier, more
austere, account of this particularly Peirceian phenomenon. He concludes the
lectures with an exploration on the relevance of the implicatum to
philosophical psychology. Grice was well aware that many philosophers had
become enamoured with the s. and would love to give it a continuous perusal.
The set is indeed grandiose. It starts with a Prolegomena to set the scene: He
notably quotes himself in it, which helps, but also Strawson, which sort of
justifies the general title. In the second lecture, Logic and Conversation, he
expands on the principle of conversational helpfulness and the
explicitum/implicatum distinction – all very rationalist! The third lecture is
otiose in that he makes fun of Ockham: Senses are not to be multiplied beyond
necessity. The fourth lecture, on Indicative conditionals, is indeed on MOST of
the formal devices he had mentioned on Lecture II, notably the functors (rather
than the quantifiers and the iota operator, with which he deals in
Presupposition and conversational implicature, since, as he notes, they refer
to reference). This lecture is the centrepiece of the set. In the fifth
lecture, he plays with mean, and discovers that it is attached to the
implicatum or the implicitum. In the sixth lecture, he becomes a nominalist, to
use Bennetts phrase, as he deals with dog and shaggy in terms of this or that
resultant procedure. Dont ask me what they are! Finally, in “Some models for
implicature,” he attacks the charge of circularity, and refers to
nineteenth-century explorations on the idea of thought without language alla
Wundt. I dont think a set of James lectures had even been so comprehensive!
Conversational helpfulness. This is Grice at his methodological best. He was
aware that the type of philosophying he was about to criticise wass a bit
dated, but whats wrong with being old-fashioned? While this may be seen as a
development of his views on implicature at that seminal Oxford seminar, it may
also be seen as Grice popularising the views for a New-World, non-Oxonian
audience. A discussion of Oxonian philosophers of the play group of Grice,
notably Austin, Hare, Hart, and Strawson. He adds himself for good measure
(“Causal theory”). Philosophers, even at Oxford, have to be careful with the
attention that is due to general principles of discourse. Grice quotes
philosophers of an earlier generation, such as Ryle, and some interpreters or
practitioners of Oxonian analysis, such as Benjamin and Searle. He even manages
to quote from Witterss Philosophical investigations, on seeing a banana as a
banana. There are further items in the Grice collection that address Austins
manoeuvre, Austin on ifs and cans, Ifs and cans, : conditional,
power. Two of Grices favourites. He opposed Strawsons view on if.
Grice thought that if was the horseshoe of Whitehead and Russell, provided we
add an implicatum to an entailment. The can is merely dispositional, if
not alla Ryle, alla Grice! Ifs and cans, intention, disposition. Austin
had brought the topic to the fore as an exploration of free will. Pears had
noted that conversational implicature may account for the conditional
perfection (if yields iff). Cf. Ayers on Austin on if and can. Recall that
for Grice the most idiomatic way to express a disposition is with the
Subjectsive mode, the if, and the can ‒ The ice can break. Cf. the mistake: It
is not the case that what you must do, you can do. The can-may distinction is
one Grice played with too. As with will and shall, the attachment of one mode
to one of the lexemes is pretty arbitrary and not etymologically justified ‒
pace Fowler on it being a privilege of this or that Southern Englishman as
Fowler is. If he calls it Prolegomena, he is being jocular. Philosophers
Mistakes would have been too provocative. Benjamin, or rather Broad, erred, and
so did Ryle, and Ludwig Witters, and my friends, Austin (the mater that
wobbled), and in order of seniority, Hart (I heard him defend this about
carefully – stopping at every door in case a dog comes out at breakneck speed),
Hare (To say good is to approve), and Strawson (“Logical theory”: To utter if
p, q is to implicate some inferrability, To say true! is to endorse –
Analysis). If he ends with Searle, he is being jocular. He quotes Searle from
an essay in British philosophy in Lecture I, and from an essay in Philosophy in
America in Lecture V. He loved Searle, and expands on the Texas oilmens club
example! We may think of Grice as a linguistic botanizer or a meta-linguistic
botanizer: his hobby was to collect philosophers mistakes, and he catalogued
them. In Causal theory he produces his first list of seven. The pillar box
seems red to me. One cannot see a dagger as a dagger. Moore didnt know that the
objects before him were his own hands. What is actual is not also possible. For
someone to be called responsible, his action should be condemnable. A cause
must be given only of something abnormal or unusual (cf. ætiology). If you know
it, you dont believe it. In the Prolegomena, the taxonomy is more complicated.
Examples A (the use of an expression, by Austin, Benjamin, Grice, Hart, Ryle,
Wittgenstein), Examples B (Strawson on and, or, and especially if), and
Examples C (Strawson on true and Hare on good – the performative theories). But
even if his taxonomy is more complicated, he makes it more SO by giving other
examples as he goes on to discuss how to assess the philosophical mistake. Cf.
his elaboration on trying, I saw Mrs. Smith cashing a cheque, Trying to cash a
cheque, you mean. Or cf. his remarks on remember, and There is an analogy here
with a case by Wittgenstein. In summary, he wants to say. Its the philosopher
who makes his big mistake. He has detected, as Grice has it, some
conversational nuance. Now he wants to exploit it. But before rushing ahead to
exploit the conversational nuance he has detected, or identified, or collected
in his exercise of linguistic botanising, the philosopher should let us know
with clarity what type of a nuance it is. For Grice wants to know that the
nuance depends on a general principle (of goal-directed behaviour in general,
and most likely rational) governing discourse – that participants in a
conversation should be aware of, and not on some minutiæ that has been
identified by the philosopher making the mistake, unsystematically, and merely
descriptively, and taxonomically, but without ONE drop of explanatory adequacy.
The fact that he directs this to his junior Strawson is the sad thing. The rest
are all Grices seniors! The point is of philosophical interest, rather than
other. And he keeps citing philosophers, Tarski or Ramsey, in the third James
leture, to elaborate the point about true in Prolegomena. He never seems
interested in anything but an item being of philosophical interest, even if
that means HIS and MINE! On top, he is being Oxonian: Only at Oxford my
colleagues were so obsessed, as it has never been seen anywhere else, about the
nuances of conversation. Only they were all making a big mistake in having no
clue as to what the underlying theory of conversation as rational co-operation
would simplify things for them – and how! If I introduce the explicatum as a
concession, I shall hope I will be pardoned! Is Grices intention epagogic, or
diagogic in Prolegomena? Is he trying to educate Strawson, or just delighting
in proving Strawson wrong? We think the former. The fact that he quotes himself
shows that Grice is concerned with something he still sees, and for the rest of
his life will see, as a valid philosophical problem. If philosophy generated no
problems it would be dead. Refs.: The main sources are the two sets on ‘logic
and conversation.’ There are good paraphrases in other essays when he
summarises his own views, as he did at Urbana. The H. P. Grice Papers, BANC.
conversational imperative: What was the Greek for ‘imperative mode’? προστακτική
prostaktike. προσ-τακτικός , ή, όν, A.of or for
commanding, imperative, imperious, τὸ π. [ἡ ψυχή], opp. τὸ ὑπηρετικόν (of the
body), Arist.Top.128b19; “π. τινῶν” Corn.ND16; “λόγος” Plu.2.1037f;
Προστακτικός (sc. λόγος), title of work by Protagoras, D.L.9.55; “βραχυλογία”
Plu.Phoc.5; also of persons, “ἄρχων” Max.Tyr.13.2 (Sup.). II. Gramm., ἡ -κὴ
ἔγκλισις the imperative mood, D.T.638.7, A.D.Synt.31.20; π. ἐκφορὰ τῶν ῥημάτων
ib.69.20; “τὸ π. σχῆμα” Anon.Fig.24; also “τὸ -κόν” D.L. 7.66,67,
Ps.-Plu.Vit.Hom.53. Adv. “-κῶς” in the imperative mood, D.H.4.18,
Sch.Ar.Av.1163.Grice became famous for his ‘maxims,’ which in Nowell-Smith’s
view they are more like rules of etiquette for sylish conversation. As such,
many had been proposed. But Grice proposes them AS A PHILOSOPHER would, and
ONLY TO REBUFF the mistake made by this or that philosopher who would rather
EXPLAIN the phenomenon in terms OTHER than involving as PART OF THE DATA, i. e.
as a datum (as he says) or assumption, that there are these ‘assumptions,’
which guide behaviour. Grice is having in mind Kant’s “Imperativ.” He also uses
‘conversational objective.” In most versions that Grice provides of the
‘general expectations’ of rational discourse, he chooses the obvious imperative
form. On occasion he does use ‘imperative.’ Grice is vague as to the term of
choice for this or that ‘expectation.’ According to Strawson, Grice even once
used ‘conversational rule,’ and he does use ‘conversational rule of the
conversational game of making this or that conversational move.’ Notably, he
also uses ‘conversational principle,’ and ‘conversational desideratum.’ And
‘maxim’! And ‘conversational directive (371), and ‘conversational obligation’
(369). By ‘conversational maxim,’ he means ‘conversational maxim.’ He uses
‘conversational sub-maxim’ very occasionally. He rather uses ‘conversational
super-maxim.’ He uses ‘immanuel,’ and he uses ‘conversational immanuel.’ It is
worth noting that the choice of word influences the exegesis. Loar takes these
things to be ‘empirical generalisations over functional states’! And Grice
agrees that there is a dull, empiricist way, in which these things can be seen
as things people conform to. There is a quasi-contractualist approach to:
things people convene on. And there is an Ariskantian approach: things people
SHOULD abide by. Surely Grice is not requiring that the conversationalists ARE
explicitly or consciously AWARE of these things. There is a principle of effort
of economical reason to cope with that!
conversational implicatum. Or implicitum. Grice is being philosophical and sticking
with ‘implicatio’ as used by logicians. Implicitum does not have much of a
philosophical pedigree. But even ‘implicatio’ was not THAT used, ‘consequentia’
was preferred, as in ‘non sequitur, and seguitur, quod demonstrandumm erat. Strawson
criticism of ‘the,’ only tentative by Grice, unlike ‘if,’ so forgivable! See
common-ground status. Grice loved an implicatum. The use of ‘conversational’ by
Grice is NEVER emphatic. In his detailed, even fastidious, taxonomy of
‘implication,’ he decisively does not want to have a mere conventional
implicatum (as in “She was poor but she was honest”) as conversational. Not
even a “Thank you”, generated by the maxim “be polite.” That would be an
implicatum which is nonconventional and yet NOT conversational, because ‘be
polite’ is NOT a conversational maxim (moral, aesthetic, and social maxims are
not). And an implicature. An elaboration of his Oxonian seminar on Logic and
conversation. Theres a principle of conversational helpfulness, which includes
a desideratum of conversational candour and a desideratum of conversational
clarity, and the sub-principle of conversational self-interest clashing with
the sub-principle of conversational benevolence. The whole point of the
manoeuvre is to provide a rational basis for a conversational implicatum, as
his term of art goes. Observation of the principle of conversational
helpfulness is rational/reasonable along the following lines: anyone who is
interested in the two goals conversation is supposed to serve ‒ give/receive
information, influence/be influenced ‒ should only care to enter a conversation
that will be only profitable under the assumption that it is conducted in
accordance with the principle of conversational helfpulness, and attending
desiderata and sub-principles. Grice takes special care in listing tests for
the proof that an implicatum is conversational in this rather technical usage:
a conversational implicatum is rationally calculable (it is the content of a psychological
state, attitude or stance that the addressee assigns to the utterer on
condition that he is being helpful), non-detachable, indeterminate, and very
cancellable, thus never part of the sense and never an entailment of this or
that piece of philosophical vocabulary, in Davidson and Harman, the logic of
Grammar, also in Cole and Morgan, repr. in a revised form in Grice, logic and
conversation, the second James lecture, : principle of conversational
helpfulness, implicatum, cancellability. While the essay was also repr. by
Cole and Morgan. Grice always cites it from the two-column reprint in The Logic
of Grammar, ed. by Davidson and Harman. Most people without a philosophical
background first encounter Grice through this essay. A philosopher usually gets
first acquainted with his In defence of a dogma, or Meaning. In Logic and
Conversation, Grice re-utilises the notion of an implicatum and the principle
of conversational helpfulness that he introduced at Oxford to a more
select audience. The idea Grice is that the observation of the principle
of conversational helfpulness is rational (reasonable) along the
following lines: anyone who is concerned with the two goals which are
central to conversation (to give/receive information, to influence/be
influenced) should be interested in participating in a conversation that
is only going to be profitable on the assumption that it is conducted
along the lines of the principle of conversational helfpulness. Grices
point is methodological. He is not at all interested in conversational
exchanges as such. Unfortunately, the essay starts in media res, and skips
Grices careful list of Oxonian examples of disregard for the key idea of
what a conversant implicates by the conversational move he makes. His
concession is that there is an explicatum or explicitum (roughly, the logical
form) which is beyond pragmatic constraints. This concession is easily
explained in terms of his overarching irreverent, conservative, dissenting
rationalism. This lecture alone had been read by a few philosophers
leaving them confused. I do not know what Davidson and Harman were thinking
when they reprinted just this in The logic of grammar. I mean: it is obviously
in media res. Grice starts with the logical devices, and never again takes the
topic up. Then he explores metaphor, irony, and hyperbole, and surely the
philosopher who bought The logic of grammar must be left puzzled. He has to
wait sometime to see the thing in full completion. Oxonian philosophers would,
out of etiquette, hardly quote from unpublished material! Cohen had to rely on
memory, and thats why he got all his Grice wrong! And so did Strawson in If and
the horseshoe. Even Walker responding to Cohen is relying on memory. Few
philosophers quote from The logic of grammar. At Oxford, everybody knew what
Grice was up to. Hare was talking implicature in Mind, and Pears was talking
conversational implicature in Ifs and cans. And Platts was dedicating a full
chapter to “Causal Theory”. It seems the Oxonian etiquette was to quote from Causal
Theory. It was obvious that Grices implication excursus had to read
implicature! In a few dictionaries of philosophy, such as Hamlyns, under
implication, a reference to Grices locus classicus Causal theory is made –
Passmore quotes from Causal theory in Hundred years of philosophy. Very few
Oxonians would care to buy a volume published in Encino. Not many Oxonian
philosophers ever quoted The logic of grammar, though. At Oxford, Grices
implicata remained part of the unwritten doctrines of a few. And philosophers
would not cite a cajoled essay in the references. The implicatum allows a
display of truth-functional Grice. For substitutional-quantificational Grice we
have to wait for his treatment of the. In Prolegomena, Grice had quoted
verbatim from Strawsons infamous idea that there is a sense of inferrability
with if. While the lecture covers much more than if (He only said if; Oh, no,
he said a great deal more than that! the title was never meant to be original.
Grice in fact provides a rational justification for the three connectives (and,
or, and if) and before that, the unary functor not. Embedding, Indicative
conditionals: embedding, not and If, Sinton on Grice on denials of indicative
conditionals, not, if. Strawson had elaborated on what he felt was a
divergence between Whiteheads and Russells horseshoe, and if. Grice thought
Strawsons observations could be understood in terms of entailment + implicatum
(Robbing Peter to Pay Paul). But problems, as first noted to Grice, by Cohen,
of Oxford, remain, when it comes to the scope of the implicatum within the
operation of, say, negation. Analogous problems arise with implicata for the
other earlier dyadic functors, and and or, and Grice looks for a single
explanation of the phenomenon. The qualification indicative is modal.
Ordinary language allows for if utterances to be in modes other than the
imperative. Counter-factual, if you need to be philosophical krypto-technical,
Subjectsive is you are more of a classicist! Grice took a cavalier to the
problem: Surely it wont do to say You couldnt have done that, since you were in
Seattle, to someone who figuratively tells you hes spend the full summer
cleaning the Aegean stables. This, to philosophers, is the centerpiece of the
lectures. Grice takes good care of not, and, or, and concludes with the if of
the title. For each, he finds a métier, alla Cook Wilson in Statement and
Inference. And they all connect with rationality. So he is using material from
his Oxford seminars on the principle of conversational helpfulness. Plus Cook
Wilson makes more sense at Oxford than at Harvard! The last bit, citing Kripke
and Dummett, is meant as jocular. What is important is the teleological
approach to the operators, where a note should be made about dyadicity. In
Prolegomena, when he introduces the topic, he omits not (about which he was
almost obsessed!). He just gives an example for and (He went to bed and took
off his dirty boots), one for or (the garden becomes Oxford and the kitchen
becomes London, and the implicatum is in terms, oddly, of ignorance: My wife is
either in town or country,making fun of Town and Country), and if. His
favourite illustration for if is Cock Robin: If the Sparrow did not kill him,
the Lark did! This is because Grice is serious about the erotetic, i.e.
question/answer, format Cook Wilson gives to things, but he manages to bring
Philonian and Megarian into the picture, just to impress! Most importantly, he
introduces the square brackets! Hell use them again in Presupposition and
Conversational Implicature and turns them into subscripts in Vacuous Namess.
This is central. For he wants to impoverish the idea of the implicatum. The
explicitum is minimal, and any divergence is syntactic-cum-pragmatic import.
The scope devices are syntactic and eliminable, and as he knows: what the eye
no longer sees, the heart no longer grieves for! The modal
implicatum. Since Grice uses indicative, for the title of his third James
lecture (Indicative Conditionals) surely he implicates subjunctive ‒
i.e. that someone might be thinking that he should give an account of
indicative-cum-subjective. This relates to an example Grice gives in Causal
theory, that he does not reproduce in Prolegomena. Grice states the
philosophical mistake as follows. What is actual is not also possible. Grice
seems to be suggesting that a subjective conditional would involve one or other
of the modalities, he is not interested in exploring. On the other hand, Mackie
has noted that Grices conversationalist hypothesis (Mackie quotes verbatim from
Grices principle of conversational helpfulness) allows for an explanation of
the Subjectsive if that does not involve Kripke-type paradoxes involving
possible worlds, or other. In Causal Theory, Grice notes that the issue with
which he has been mainly concerned may be thought rather a fine point, but it
is certainly not an isolated one. There are several philosophical theses or
dicta which would he thinks need to be examined in order to see whether or not
they are sufficiently parallel to the thesis which Grice has been discussing to
be amenable to treatment of the same general kind. An examples which occurs to
me is the following. What is actual is not also possible. I must emphasise that
I am not saying that this example is importantly similar to the thesis which I
have been criticizing, only that, for all I know, it may be. To put the matter
more generally, the position adopted by Grices objector seems to Grice to
involve a type of manoeuvre which is characteristic of more than one
contemporary mode of philosophizing. He is not condemning that kind of
manoeuvre. He is merely suggesting that to embark on it without due caution is
to risk collision with the facts. Before we rush ahead to exploit the
linguistic nuances which we have detected, we should make sure that we are
reasonably clear what sort of nuances they are. If was also of special interest
to Grice for many other reasons. He defends a dispositional account of
intending that in terms of ifs and cans. He considers akrasia conditionally. He
explored the hypothetical-categorical distinction in the buletic mode. He was
concerned with therefore as involved with the associated if of
entailment. Refs.: “Implicatum” is introduced in Essay 2 in WoW – but
there are scattered references elsewhere. He often uses the plural ‘implicata’
too, as in “Retrospective Epilogue,” The H. P. Grice Papers, BANC. An
implicatum requires a complexum. Frege was the topic of the explorations by
Dummett. A tutee of Grices once brought Dummetts Frege to a tutorial and
told Grice that he intended to explore this. Have you read it? No I
havent, Grice answered. And after a pause, he went on: And I hope I will not.
Hardly promising, the tutee thought. Some authors, including Grice, but
alas, not Frege, have noted some similarities between Grices notion of a
conventional implicature and Freges schematic and genial rambles on colouring.
Aber Farbung, as Frege would state! Grice was more interested in the idea of a
Fregeian sense, but he felt that if he had to play with Freges aber he should!
One of Grices metaphysical construction-routines, the Humeian projection, is
aimed at the generation of concepts, in most cases the rational reconstruction
of an intuitive concept displayed in ordinary discourse. We arrive at something
like a Fregeian sense. Grice exclaimed, with an intonation of Eureka, almost.
And then he went back to Frege. Grices German was good, so he could read
Frege, in the vernacular. For fun, he read Frege to his children (Grices, not
Freges): In einem obliquen Kontext, Frege says, Grice says, kann ja z. B. die
Ersetzung eines „aber durch ein „und, die in einem direkten Kontext keinen
Unterschied des Wahrheitswerts ergibt, einen solchen Unterschied bewirken. Ill
make that easy for you, darlings: und is and, and aber is but. But surely,
Papa, aber is not cognate with but! Its not. That is Anglo-Saxon, for you. But
is strictly Anglo-Saxon short for by-out; we lost aber when we sailed the North
Sea. Grice went on: Damit wird eine Abgrenzung von Sinn und Färbung (oder
Konnotationen) eines Satzes fragwürdig. I. e. he is saying that She was poor
but she was honest only conventionally implicates that there is a contrast
between her poverty and her honesty. I guess he heard the ditty during the War?
Grice ignored that remark, and went on: Appell und Kundgabe wären ferner von
Sinn und Färbung genauer zu unterscheiden. Ich weiß so auf interessante
Bedeutungs Komponenten hin, bemüht sich aber nicht, sie genauer zu
differenzieren, da er letztlich nur betonen will, daß sie in der Sprache der
Logik keine Rolle spielen. They play a role in the lingo, that is! What do?
Stuff like but. But surely they are not rational conversational implicata!? No,
dear, just conventional tricks you can ignore on a nice summer day! Grice
however was never interested in what he dismissively labels the conventional
implicatum. He identifies it because he felt he must! Surely, the way some
Oxonian philosophers learn to use stuff like, on the one hand, and on the
other, (or how Grice learned how to use men and de in Grecian), or so, or
therefore, or but versus and, is just to allow that he would still use imply in
such cases. But surely he wants conversational to stick with rationality:
conversational maxim and converational implicatum only apply to things which
can be justified transcendentally, and not idiosyncrasies of usage! Grice
follows Church in noting that Russell misreads Frege as being guilty of
ignoring the use-mention distinction, when he doesnt. One thing that Grice
minimises is that Freges assertion sign is composite. Tha is why Baker prefers
to use the dot “.” as the doxastic correlative for the buletic sign ! which is
NOT composite. The sign „├‟ is composite. Frege explains his Urteilstrich, the
vertical component of his sign ├ as conveying assertoric force. The principal
role of the horizontal component as such is to prevent the appearance of
assertoric force belonging to a token of what does not express a thought (e.g.
the expression 22). ─p expresses a thought even if p does not.) cf. Hares four
sub-atomic particles: phrastic (dictum), neustic (dictor), tropic, and clistic.
Cf. Grice on the radix controversy: We do not want the “.” in p to become a
vanishing sign. Grices Frege, Frege, Words, and Sentences, Frege, Farbung,
aber. Frege was one of Grices obsessions. A Fregeian sense is an explicatum, or
implicitum, a concession to get his principle of conversational helpfulness
working in the generation of conversational implicata, that can only mean
progress for philosophy! Fregeian senses are not to be multiplied beyond
necessity. The employment of the routine of Humeian projection may be
expected to deliver for us, as its result, a concept – the
concept(ion) of value, say, in something like a Fregeian sense, rather than an
object. There is also a strong affinity between Freges treatment of
colouring (of the German particle aber, say) and Grices idea of a convetional
implicatum (She was poor, but she was honest,/and her parents were the
same,/till she met a city feller,/and she lost her honest Names, as the vulgar
Great War ditty went). Grice does not seem interested in providing a
philosophical exploration of conventional implicata, and there is a reason for
this. Conventional implicata are not essentially connected, as
conversational implicata are, with rationality. Conventional implicata cannot
be calculable. They have less of a philosophical interest, too, in that they
are not cancellable. Grice sees cancellability as a way to prove some
(contemporary to him, if dated) ordinary-language philosophers who analyse an
expression in terms of sense and entailment, where a cancellable conversational
implicatum is all there is (to it). He mentions Benjamin in Prolegomena,
and is very careful in noting how Benjamin misuses a Fregeian sense. In his
Causal theory, Grice lists another mistake: What is known to be the case is not
believed to be the case. Grice gives pretty few example of a conventional
implicatum: therefore, as in the utterance by Jill: Jack is an Englishman; he
is, therefore, brave. This is interesting because therefore compares to so
which Strawson, in PGRICE, claims is the asserted counterpart to if. But
Strawson is never associated with the type of linguistic botany that Grice is.
Grice also mentions the idiom, on the one hand/on the other hand, in some detail
in “Epilogue”: My aunt was a nurse in the Great War; my sister, on the other
hand, lives on a peak at Darien. Grice thinks that Frege misuses the
use-mention distinction but Russell corrects that. Grice bases this on Church.
And of course he is obsessed with the assertion sign by Frege, which Grice
thinks has one stroke tooo many. The main reference is give above for
‘complexum.’ Those without a philosophical background tend to ignore a joke by
Grice. His echoing Kant in the James is a joke, in the sense that he is using
Katns well-known to be pretty artificial quartet of ontological caegories to
apply to a totally different phenomenon: the taxonomy of the maxims! In his
earlier non-jocular attempts, he applied more philosophical concepts with a more
serious rationale. His key concept, conversation as rational co-operation,
underlies all his attempts. A pretty worked-out model is in terms then of this
central, or overarching principle of conversational helpfulness (where
conversation as cooperation need not be qualified as conversation as rational
co-operation) and being structured by two contrasting sub-principles: the
principle of conversational benevolence (which almost overlaps with the
principle of conversational helpfulness) and the slightly more jocular
principle of conversational self-love. There is something oxymoronic about
self-love being conversational, and this is what leads to replace the two
subprinciples by a principle of conversational helfpulness (as used in WoW:IV)
simpliciter. His desideratum of conversational candour is key. The clash
between the desideratum of conversational candour and the desideratum of
conversational clarity (call them supermaxims) explains why I believe that p
(less clear than p) shows the primacy of candour over clarity. The idea remains
of an overarching principle and a set of more specific guidelines. Non-Oxonian
philosophers would see Grices appeal to this or that guideline as ad hoc, but
not his tutees! Grice finds inspiration in Joseph Butler’s sermon on benevolence
and self-love, in his sermon 9, upon the love of our neighbour, preached on
advent Sunday. And if there be any other commandment, it is briefly
comprehended in this saying, Namesly, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,
Romans xiii. 9. It is commonly observed, that there is a disposition in
men to complain of the viciousness and corruption of the age in which they
live, as greater than that of former ones: which is usually followed with this
further observation, that mankind has been in that respect much the same in all
times. Now, to determine whether this last be not contradicted by the accounts
of history: thus much can scarce be doubted, that vice and folly takes
different turns, and some particular kinds of it are more open and avowed in some
ages than in others; and, I suppose, it may be spoken of as very much the
distinction of the present, to profess a contracted spirit, and greater regards
to self-interest, than appears to have been done formerly. Upon this account it
seems worth while to inquire, whether private interest is likely to be promoted
in proportion to the degree in which self-love engrosses us, and prevails over
all other principles; "or whether the contracted affection may not
possibly be so prevalent as to disappoint itself, and even contradict its own
end, private good?" Repr. in revised form as WOW, I. Grice felt
the need to go back to his explantion (cf. Fisher, Never contradict. Never
explain) of the nuances about seem and cause (“Causal theory”.). Grice uses ‘My
wife is in the kitchen or the bedroom,’ by Smith, as relying on a requirement
of discourse. But there must be more to it. Variations on a theme by Grice.
Make your contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by
the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are
engaged. Variations on a theme by Grice. I wish to represent a
certain subclass of non-conventional implicaturcs, which I shall
call conversational implicaturcs, as being essentially connected with
certain general features of discourse; so my next step is to try to say what
these features are. The following may provide a first approximation to a
general principle. Our talk exchanges do not normally consist of a succession
of disconnected remarks, and would not be rational if they did. They are
characteristically, to some degree at least, cooperative efforts; and each
participant recognizes in them, to some extent, a common purpose or set of
purposes, or at least a mutually accepted direction. This purpose or direction
may be fixed from the start (e.g., by an initial proposal of a question for
discussion), or it may evolve during the exchange; it may be fairly definite,
or it may be so indefinite as to leave very considerable latitude to the
participants, as in a casual conversation. But at each stage, some possible
conversational moves would be excluded as conversationally unsuitable. We might
then formulate a rough general principle which participants will be expected
ceteris paribus to observe, viz.: Make your conversational contribution such as
is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or
direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged. One might label this
the co-operative principle. We might then formulate a rough general principle
which participants will be expected ceteris paribus to
observe, viz.: Make your contribution such as is required, at the
stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk
exchange in which you are engaged. One might label this the Cooperative
Principle. Strictly, the principle itself is not co-operative: conversants
are. Less literary variant: Make your move such as is required by the
accepted goal of the conversation in which you are engaged. But why logic and
conversation? Logica had been part of the trivium for ages ‒ Although they
called it dialectica, then. Grice on the seven liberal arts. Moved by
Strawsons treatment of the formal devices in “Introduction to logical theory”
(henceforth, “Logical theory”), Grice targets these, in their
ordinary-discourse counterparts. Strawson indeed characterizes Grice as his
logic tutor – Strawson was following a PPE., and his approach to logic is
practical. His philosophy tutor was Mabbott. For Grice, with a M. A. Lit.
Hum. the situation is different. Grice knows that the Categoriae and De Int. of
his beloved Aristotle are part of the Logical Organon which had been so
influential in the history of philosophy. Grice attempts to reconcile
Strawsons observations with the idea that the formal devices reproduce some
sort of explicatum, or explicitum, as identified by Whitehead and Russell in
Principia Mathematica. In the proceedings, Grice has to rely on some general
features of discourse, or conversation as a rational co-operation. The alleged
divergence between the ordinary-language operators and their formal
counterparts is explained in terms of the conversational implicata, then.
I.e. the content of the psychological attitude that the addressee A has to
ascribe to the utterer U to account for any divergence between the formal
device and its alleged ordinary-language counterpart, while still assuming that
U is engaged in a co-operative transaction. The utterer and his
addressee are seen as caring for the mutual goals of conversation ‒
the exchange of information and the institution of decisions ‒ and
judging that conversation will only be profitable (and thus reasonable and
rational) if conducted under some form of principle of conversational
helpfulness. The observation of a principle of conversational
helpfulness is reasonable (rational) along the following lines: anyone
who cares about the goals that are central to conversation/communication
(such as giving and receiving information, influencing and being influenced by
others) must be expected to have an interest, given suitable circumstances, in
participating in a conversation that will be profitable ONLY on the assumption
that it is conducted in general accordance with a principle of conversational
helpfulness. In titling his seminar Logic and conversation, Grice is
thinking Strawson. After all, in the seminal “Logical theory,” that every
Oxonian student was reading, Strawson had the cheek to admit that he never
ceased to learn logic from his tutor, Grice. Yet he elaborates a totally anti Griceian
view of things. To be fair to Strawson, the only segment where he acknwoledges
Grices difference of opinion is a brief footnote, concerning the strength or
lack thereof, of this or that quantified utterance. Strawson uses an adjective
that Grice will seldom do, pragmatic. On top, Strawson attributes the adjective
to rule. For Grice, in Strawsons wording, there is this or that pragmatic rule
to the effect that one should make a stronger rather than a weaker
conversational move. Strawsons Introduction was published before Grice aired
his views for the Aristotelian Society. In this seminar then Grice takes the
opportunity to correct a few misunderstandings. Important in that it is
Grices occasion to introduce the principle of conversational helpfulness as
generating implicata under the assumption of rationality. The lecture makes it
obvious that Grices interest is methodological, and not philological. He is not
interest in conversation per se, but only as the source for his principle of
conversational helpfulness and the notion of the conversational implicatum,
which springs from the distinction between what an utterer implies and what his
expression does, a distinction apparently denied by Witters and all too
frequently ignored by Austin. Logic and conversation, an Oxford seminar,
implicatum, principle of conversational helpfulness, eywords: conversational
implicature, conversational implicatum. Conversational
Implicature Grices main invention, one which trades on the distinction
between what an utterer implies and what his expression does. A
distinction apparently denied by Witters, and all too frequently ignored by, of
all people, Austin. Grice is implicating that Austins sympathies were for
the Subjectsification of Linguistic Nature. Grice remains an obdurate
individualist, and never loses sight of the distinction that gives rise to the
conversational implicatum, which can very well be hyper-contextualised,
idiosyncratic, and perfectly particularized. His gives an Oxonian example. I
can very well mean that my tutee is to bring me a philosophical essay next week
by uttering It is raining.Grice notes that since the object of the present
exercise, is to provide a bit of theory which will explain, for a
certain family of cases, why is it that a particular implicature is
present, I would suggest that the final test of the adequacy and
utility of this model should be: can it be used to construct an explanation of
the presence of such an implicature, and is it more comprehensive and
more economical than any rival? is the no
doubt pre-theoretical explanation which one would be prompted to give
of such an implicature consistent with, or better still a favourable pointer
towards the requirements involved in the model? cf. Sidonius: Far otherwise:
whoever disputes with you will find those protagonists of heresy, the Stoics,
Cynics, and Peripatetics, shattered with their own arms and their
own engines; for their heathen followers, if they resist the doctrine and
spirit of Christianity, will, under your teaching, be caught in their own
familiar entanglements, and fall headlong into their own toils; the barbed
syllogism of your arguments will hook the glib tongues of the
casuists, and it is you who will tie up their slippery
questions in categorical clews, after the manner of a clever
physician, who, when compelled by reasoned thought, prepares antidotes for
poison even from a serpent.qvin potivs experietvr qvisqve conflixerit stoicos
cynicos peripateticos hæresiarchas propriis armis propriis qvoqve concvti
machiNamesntis nam sectatores eorum Christiano dogmati ac sensvi si
repvgnaverint mox te magistro ligati vernaculis implicaturis in retia
sua præcipites implagabvntur syllogismis tuæ propositionis vncatis volvbilem
tergiversantvm lingvam inhamantibvs dum spiris categoricis lubricas qvæstiones
tv potivs innodas acrivm more medicorvm qui remedivm contra venena cum ratio
compellit et de serpente conficivnt. If he lectured on Logic and
Conversation on implicature, Grice must have thought that Strawsons area was
central. Yet, as he had done in Causal theory and as he will at Harvard, Grice
kept collecting philosophers mistakes. So its best to see Grice as a
methodologist, and as using logic and conversation as an illustration of his
favourite manoeuvre, indeed, central philosophical manoeuver that gave him a
place in the history of philosophy. Restricting this manoeuvre to just an area
minimises it. On the other hand, there has to be a balance: surely logic and
conversation is a topic of intrinsic interest, and we cannot expect all
philosophers – unless they are Griceians – to keep a broad unitarian view of
philosophy as a virtuous whole. Philosophy, like virtue, is entire.
Destructive implicature to it: Mr. Puddle is our man in æsthetics implicates
that he is not good at it. What is important to Grice is that the mistakes of
these philosophers (notably Strawson!) arise from some linguistic phenomena, or,
since we must use singular expressions this or that linguistic phenomenon. Or
as Grice puts it, it is this or that linguistic phenomenon which provides the
material for the philosopher to make his mistake! So, to solve it, his theory
of conversation as rational co-operation is posited – technically, as a way to
explain (never merely describe, which Grice found boring ‒ if English, cf.
never explain, never apologise ‒ Jacky Fisher: Never contradict. Never
explain.) these phenomena – his principle of conversational helpfulness and the
idea of a conversational implicatum. The latter is based not so much on
rationality per se, but on the implicit-explicit distinction that he constantly
plays with, since his earlier semiotic-oriented explorations of Peirce. But
back to this or that linguistic phenomenon, while he would make fun of Searle
for providing this or that linguistic phenomenon that no philosopher would ever
feel excited about, Grice himself was a bit of a master in illustrating this a
philosophical point with this or that linguistic phenomenon that would not be
necessarily connected with philosophy. Grice rarely quotes authors, but surely
the section in “Causal theory,” where he lists seven philosophical theses
(which are ripe for an implicatum treatment) would be familiar enough for
anybody to be able to drop a names to attach to each. At Harvard, almost every
example Grice gives of this or that linguistic phenomenon is UN-authored (and
sometimes he expands on his own view of them, just to amuse his audience – and
show how committed to this or that thesis he was), but some are not unauthored.
And they all belong to the linguistic turn: In his three groups of examples,
Grice quotes from Ryle (who thinks he knows about ordinary language), Witters,
Austin (he quotes him in great detail, from Pretending, Plea of excuses, and No
modification without aberration,), Strawson (in “Logical theory” and on Truth
for Analysis), Hart (as I have heard him expand on this), Grice, Searle, and
Benjamin. Grice implicates Hare on ‘good,’ etc. When we mention the
explicit/implicit distinction as source for the implicatum, we are referring to
Grices own wording in Retrospective epilogue where he mentions an utterer as
conveying in some explicit fashion this or that, as opposed to a gentler, more
(midland or southern) English, way, via implicature, or implIciture, if you
mustnt. Cf. Fowler: As a southern Englishman, Ive stopped trying teaching a
northern Englishman the distinction between ought and shall. He seems to get it
always wrong. It may be worth exploring how this connects with rationality. His
point would be that that an assumption that the rational principle of
conversational helpfulness is in order allows P-1 not just to convey in a
direct explicit fashion that p, but in an implicit fashion that q, where q is
the implicatum. The principle of conversational helpfulness as generator of
this or that implicata, to use Grices word (generate). Surely, He took off his
boots and went to bed; I wont say in which order sounds hardly in the vein of
conversational helpfulness – but provided Grice does not see it as logically
incoherent, it is still a rational (if not reasonable) thing to say. The point
may be difficult to discern, but you never know. The utterer may be conveying,
Viva Boole. Grices point about rationality is mentioned in his later
Prolegomena, on at least two occasions. Rational behaviour is the phrase he
uses (as applied first to communication and then to discourse) and in stark
opposition with a convention-based approach he rightly associates with Austin.
Grice is here less interested here as he will be on rationality, but
coooperation as such. Helpfulness as a reasonable expecation (normative?), a
mutual one between decent chaps, as he puts it. His charming decent chap is so
Oxonian. His tutee would expect no less ‒ and indeed no more! A rather obscure
exploration on the connection of semiotics and philosophical psychology. Grice
is aware that there is an allegation in the air about a possible vicious circle
in trying to define category of expression in terms of a category of
representation. He does not provide a solution to the problem which hell take
up in his Method in philosophical psychology, in his role of President of the
APA. It is the implicatum behind the lecture that matters, since Grice
will go back to it, notably in the Retrospective Epilogue. For Grice, its all
rational enough. Theres a P, in a situation, say of danger – a bull ‒. He
perceives the bull. The bulls attack causes this perception. Bull! the P1 G1
screams, and causes in P2 G2 a rearguard movement. So where is
the circularity? Some pedants would have it that Bull cannot be understood in a
belief about a bull which is about a bull. Not Grice. It is nice that he
brought back implicature, which had become obliterated in the lectures, back to
title position! But it is also noteworthy, that these are not explicitly
rationalist models for implicature. He had played with a model, and an
explanatory one at that, for implicature, in his Oxford seminar, in terms of a
principle of conversational helpfulness, a desideratum of conversational
clarity, a desideratum of conversational candour, and two sub-principles: a
principle of conversational benevolence, and a principle of conversational
self-interest! Surely Harvard could be spared of the details! Implicature.
Grice disliked a presupposition. BANC also contains a folder for Odd ends: Urbana
and non-Urbana. Grice continues with the elaboration of a formal calculus. He
originally baptised it System Q in honour of Quine. At a later stage, Myro
will re-Names it System G, in a special version, System GHP, a highly
powerful/hopefully plausible version of System G, in gratitude to Grice. Odd
Ends: Urbana and Not Urbana, Odds and ends: Urbana and not Urbana, or
not-Urbana, or Odds and ends: Urbana and non Urbana, or Oddents, urbane and not
urbane, semantics, Urbana lectures. The Urbana lectures are on language
and reality. Grice keeps revising them, as these items show. Language and
reality, The University of Illinois at Urbana, The Urbana Lectures, Language
and reference, language and reality, The Urbana lectures, University of
Illinois at Urbana, language, reference, reality. Grice favours a
transcendental approach to communication. A beliefs by a communicator
worth communicating has to be true. An order by a communicator worth
communicating has to be satisfactory. The fourth lecture is the one Grice dates
in WOW . Smith has not ceased from beating his wife, presupposition and
conversational implicature, in Radical pragmatics, ed. by R. Cole, repr. in a
revised form in Grice, WOW, II, Explorations in semantics and metaphysics,
essay, presupposition and implicature, presupposition, conversational
implicature, implicature, Strawson. Grice: The loyalty examiner will not summon
you, do not worry. The cancellation by Grice could be pretty subtle. Well, the
loyalty examiner will not be summoning you at any rate. Grice goes back to the
issue of negation and not. If, Grice notes, is is a matter of dispute whether
the government has a very undercover person who interrogates those whose
loyalty is suspect and who, if he existed, could be legitimately referred to as
the loyalty examiner; and if, further, I am known to be very sceptical about
the existence of such a person, I could perfectly well say to a plainly loyal
person, Well, the loyalty examiner will not be summoning you at any rate,
without, Grice would think, being taken to imply that such a person
exists. Further, if the utterer U is well known to disbelieve in the existence
of such a person, though others are inclined to believe in him, when U finds a
man who is apprised of Us position, but who is worried in case he is summoned,
U may try to reassure him by uttering, The loyalty examiner will not summon
you, do not worry. Then it would be clear that U uttered this because U is sure
there is no such person. The lecture was variously reprinted, but the Urbana
should remain the preferred citation. There are divergences in the various
drafts, though. The original source of this exploration was a seminar.
Grice is interested in re-conceptualising Strawsons manoeuvre regarding
presupposition as involving what Grice disregards as a metaphysical concoction:
the truth-value gap. In Grices view, based on a principle of conversational
tailoring that falls under his principle of conversational
helpfulness ‒ indeed under the desideratum of conversational clarity
(be perspicuous [sic]). The king of France is bald entails there is a king of
France; while The king of France aint bald merely implicates it. Grice
much preferred Collingwoods to Strawsons presuppositions! Grice thought, and
rightly, too, that if his notion of the conversational implicatum was to gain Oxonian
currency, it should supersede Strawsons idea of the præ-suppositum.
Strawson, in his attack to Russell, had been playing with Quines idea of a
truth-value gap. Grice shows that neither the metaphysical concoction of a
truth-value gap nor the philosophical tool of the præ-suppositum is needed. The
king of France is bald entails that there is a king of France. It is part of
what U is logically committed to by what he explicitly conveys. By uttering,
The king of France is not bald on the other hand, U merely implicitly conveys
or implicates that there is a king of France. A perfectly adequate, or
impeccable, as Grice prefers, cancellation, abiding with the principle of
conversational helpfulness is in the offing. The king of France ain’t bald.
What made you think he is? For starters, he ain’t real! Grice credits Sluga for
having pointed out to him the way to deal with the definite descriptor or
definite article or the iota quantifier the formally. One thing Russell
discovered is that the variable denoting function is to be deduced from the
variable propositional function, and is not to be taken as an indefinable.
Russell tries to do without the iota i as an indefinable, but fails. The success
by Russell later, in On denoting, is the source of all his subsequent progress.
The iota quantifier consists of an inverted iota to be read the individuum x,
as in (℩x).F(x). Grice opts for the Whiteheadian-Russellian standard
rendition, in terms of the iota operator. Grices take on Strawson is a strong
one. The king of France is bald; entails there is a king of France, and what
the utterer explicitly conveys is doxastically unsatisfactory. The king of
France aint bald does not. By uttering The king of France aint bald U only
implicates that there is a king of France, and what he explicitly conveys is
doxastically satisfactory. Grice knew he was not exactly robbing Peter to pay
Paul, or did he? It is worth placing the lecture in context. Soon after
delivering in the New World his exploration on the implicatum, Grice has no
better idea than to promote Strawsons philosophy in the New World. Strawson
will later reflect on the colder shores of the Old World, so we know what Grice
had in mind! Strawsons main claim to fame in the New World (and at least Oxford
in the Old World) was his On referring, where he had had the cheek to say that
by uttering, The king of France is not bald, the utterer implies that there is
a king of France (if not that, as Grice has it, that what U explicitly conveys
is doxastically satisfactory. Strawson later changed that to the utterer
presupposes that there is a king of France. So Grice knows what and who he was
dealing with. Grice and Strawson had entertained Quine at Oxford, and Strawson
was particularly keen on that turn of phrase he learned from Quine, the
truth-value gap. Grice, rather, found it pretty repulsive: Tertium exclusum!
So, Grice goes on to argue that by uttering The king of France is bald, one
entailment of what U explicitly conveys is indeed There is a king of France.
However, in its negative co-relate, things change. By uttering The king of
France aint bald, the utterer merely implicitly conveys or implicates (in a
pretty cancellable format) that there is a king of France. The king of France
aint bald: theres no king of France! The loyalty examiner is like the King of
France, in ways! The piece is crucial for Grices re-introduction of the
square-bracket device: [The king of France] is bald; [The king of France] aint
bald. Whatever falls within the scope of the square brackets is to be read as
having attained common-ground status and therefore, out of the question, to use
Collingwoods jargon! Grice was very familiar with Collingwood on
presupposition, meant as an attack on Ayer. Collingwoods reflections on
presuppositions being either relative or absolute may well lie behind Grices
metaphysical construction of absolute value! The earliest exploration by Grice
on this is his infamous, Smith has not ceased from beating his wife, discussed
by Ewing in Meaninglessness for Mind. Grice goes back to the example in the
excursus on implying that in Causal Theory, and it is best to revisit this
source. Note that in the reprint in WOW Grice does NOT go, one example of
presupposition, which eventually is a type of conversational implicature. Grices
antipathy to Strawsons presupposition is metaphysical: he dislikes the idea of
a satisfactory-value-gap, as he notes in the second paragraph to Logic and
conversation. And his antipathy crossed the buletic-doxastic divide! Using φ to represent a sentence in either mode,
he stipulate that ~φ is satisfactory just in case ⌈φ⌉ is unsatisfactory. A crunch,
as he puts it, becomes obvious: ~ ⊢The king of France is bald may perhaps be
treated as equivalent to ⊢~(The king of
France is bald). But what about ~!Arrest the intruder? What do we say in cases
like, perhaps, Let it be that I now put my hand on my head or Let it be that my
bicycle faces north, in which (at least on occasion) it seems to be that
neither !p nor !~p is either satisfactory or unsatisfactory? If !p is neither
satisfactory nor unsatisfactory (if that make sense, which doesnt to me), does
the philosopher assign a third buletically satisfactory value (0.5) to !p
(buletically neuter, or indifferent). Or does the philosopher say that we have
a buletically satisfactory value gap, as Strawson, following Quine, might
prefer? This may require careful consideration; but I cannot see that the
problem proves insoluble, any more than the analogous problem connected with
Strawsons doxastic presupposition is insoluble. The difficulty is not so much
to find a solution as to select the best solution from those which present
themselves. The main reference is Essay 2 in WoW, but there are scattered
references elsewhere. Refs.: The main sources are the two
sets of ‘logic and conversation,’ in BANC, but there are scattered essays on
‘implicature’ simpliciter, too -- “Presupposition
and conversational implicature,” c. 2-f. 25; and “Convesational implicature,”
c. 4-f. 9, “Happiness, discipline, and implicatures,” c. 7-f. 6;
“Presupposition and implicature,” c. 9-f. 3, The H. P. Grice Papers, BANC.
conversational maxim. They don’t need to be necessarily independent (Strawson
Wiggins p.520). Grice is echoing Kant.
Maximen (subjektive Grundsätze): selbstgesetzte Handlungsregeln, die ein Wollen
ausdrücken, vs. Imperative (objektive Grundsätze): durch praktische Vernunft
bestimmt; Ratschläge, moralisch relevante Grundsätze. („das Gesetz aber ist das
objektive Prinzip, gültig für jedes vernünftige Wesen, und der Grundsatz, nach
dem es handeln soll, d. i. ein Imperativ.“) das Problem ist jedoch die
Subjektivität der Maxime. When considering Grice’s concept of a ‘conversational
maxim,’ one has to be careful. First, he hesitated as to the choice of the
label. He used ‘objective’ and ‘desideratum’ before. And while few cite this,
in WoW:PandCI he adds one – leading the number of maxims to ten, what he called
the ‘conversational catalogue.’ So when exploring the maxims, it is not
necessary to see their dependence on the four functions that Kant tabulated:
quantitas, qualitas, relatio, and modus, or quantity, quality, relation, and
mode (Grice follows Meiklejohn’s translation), but in terms of their own
formulation, one by one. Grice
formulates the overarching principle: “We might then formulate a rough general
principle which participants will be expected (ceteris paribus) to observe,
namely: Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage
at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange
in which you are engaged. One might label this the COOPEHATIVE PIUNCIPLE.”He
then goes on to introduce the concept of a ‘conversational maxim.’“On the
assumption that some such general principle as this is acceptable, one may
perhaps distinguish four categories under one or another of which will fall
certain more specific MAXIMS maxims and
submaxims, the following of which will, in general, yield results in accordance
with the Cooperative Principle.” Note that in his
comparative “more specific maxims,” he is implicating that, in terms of the
force, the principle is a MAXIM. Had he not wanted this implicature, he could
have expressed it as: “On the assumption that some such general principle as
this is acceptable, one may perhaps distinguish four categories under one or
another of which will fall certain MAXIMS.”
He is
comparing the principle with the maxims in terms of ‘specificity.’ I.e. the
principle is the ‘summun genus,’ as it were, the category is the ‘inferior
genus,’ and the maxim is the ‘species infima.’He is having in mind something
like arbor porphyriana. For why otherwise care to distinguish in the
introductory passage, between ‘maxims and submaxims.’ This use of ‘submaxim’ is
very interesting. Because it is unique. He would rather call the four maxims as
SUPRA-maxims, supermaxim, or supramaxim. And leaving ‘maxim’ for what here he
is calling the submaxim.Note that if one challenges the ‘species infima,’ one
may proceed to distinguish this or that sub-sub-maxim falling under the maxim.
Take “Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.” Since this, as he
grants, applies mainly to informative cases, one may consider that it is
actually a subsubmaxim. The submaxim would be: “Do not say that for which you
are not entitled” (alla Nowell-Smith). And then provide one subsubmaxim for the
desideratum: “Do not give an order which you are not entitled to give” or “Do
not order that for you lack adequate authority,” and the other subsubmaxim for
the creditum: “Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.”Grice: “Echoing
Kant, I call these categories Quantity, Quality, Relation, and Manner.” Or
Mode. “Manner” may be Ross’s translation of Aristotle’s ‘mode.’ Consider the
exploration of Aristotle on ‘modus’ in Categoriae. It is such a mixed bag that
surely ‘manner’ is not inappropriate!“The category of QUANTITY” – i. e. either
the conversational category of quantity, or as one might prefer, the category
of conversational quantity – “relates to the quantity of information to be
provided,”So it’s not just ANY QUANTUM, as Aristotle or Kant, or Ariskant have
it – just QUANTITY OF INFORMATION, whatever ‘information’ is, and how the
quantity of information is to be assessed. E g. Grice surely shed doubts re:
the pillar box seems red and the pillar box is red. He had till now used
‘strength,’ even ‘logical strength,’ in terms of entailment – and here, neither
the phenomenalist nor the physicalist utterance entail the other.“and under it
fall the following maxims:”That is, he goes straight to the ‘conversational
maxim.’ He will provide supermaxim for the other three conversational
categories.Why is the category of conversational quantity lacking a
supermaxim?The reason is that it would seem redundant and verbose: ‘be appropriately
informative.’ By having TWO maxims, he is playing with a weighing in, or
balance between one maxim and the other. Cf.To say the truth, all the truth,
and nothing but the truth.No more no less.One maximm states the ‘at most,’ the
other maxim states the ‘at least.’One maxim states the ‘maxi,’ the other maxim
states the ‘min.’ Together they state the ‘maximin.’First, “Make your
contribution as informative as is required (for the current purposes of the exchange).”It’s
the contribution which is informative, not the utterer. Cf. “Be as informative
as is required.” Grice implicates that if you make your contribution as
informative as is required YOU are being as informative as is required. But
there is a category-shift here. Grice means, ‘required BY the goal of the
exchange). e.g.How are youFine thanks – the ‘and you’ depends on whether you
are willing to ‘keep the conversation going’ or your general mood. Second, “Do
not make your contribution more informative than is required.”“ (The second
maxim is disputable;”He goes on to give a different reason. But the primary
reason is that “Do not make your contribution more informative than is
required” is ENTAILED by “Make your contribution as informative as is required
(for the current purposes of the exchange)” – vide R. M. Hare on “Imperative
inferences” IN a diagram:Make your contribution as informative as is required
(for the current purposes of the exchange)Therefore, do not make your
contribution more informative than is required (by the current purposes of the
exchange).Grice gives another reason (he will give yet a further one) why the
maxim is ‘disputable.’“it might be said that to be overinformative is not a
transgression of the CP but merely a waste of time.”For both
conversationalists, who are thereby abiding by Ferraro’s law of the least
conversational effort.”“A waste of time” relates to Grice’s previous
elaborations on ‘undue effort’ and ‘unnecessary trouble.’He is proposing a
conversational maximin.When he formulates his principle of economy of rational
effort, it is a waste of ‘time and energy.’Here it is just ‘time.’ “Energy” is
a more generic concept.“However, it might be answered that such
overinformativeness may be confusing in that it is liable to raise side
issues;”Methinks the lady doth protest too much.His example, “He was in a
blacked out city.”It does not seem to relate to the pillar boxA: What color is
the pillar boxB: It seems red.Such a ‘confusion’ and ‘side issue,’ if so
designed, is part of the implicatum.“and there may also be an indirect effect,
in that the hearers (or addressee) may be misled as a result of thinking that
there is some particular POINT in the provision of the excess of information.”Cf.
Peter Winch on “H. P. Grice’s Conversational Point.”More boringly, it is part
of the utterer’s INTENTION to provide an excess of information.”This may be
counterproductive, or not.“Meet Mr. Puddle”“Meet Mr. Puddle, our man in
nineteenth-century continental philosophy.”The introducer point: to keep the
conversation going.Effect on Grice: Mr. Puddle is hopeless at
nineteenth-century continental philosophy (OR HE IS BEING UNDERDESCRIBED). One
has to think of philosophically relevant examples here, which is all that Grice
cares for. Malcolm says, “Moore knows it; because he’s seen it!” – Malcolm
implicates that Grice will not take Malcolm’s word. So Malcom needs to provide
the excess of information, and add, to his use of ‘know,’ which Malcolm claims
Moore does not know how to use, the ‘reason’ – If knowledge is justified true
belief, Malcolm is conveying explicitly that Moore knows and ONE OF THE
CONDITIONS for it. Cf.I didn’t know you were pregnant.You still do not. (Here
the cancellation is to the third clause). Grice: “However this may be, there is
perhaps a different [second] reason for doubt about the admission of this
second maxim, viz., that its effect will be secured by a later maxim, which
concems relevance.)”He could be a lecturer. His use of ‘later’ entails he knows
in advance what he is going to say. Cf. Foucault:“there is another reason to
doubt. The effect is secured by a maxim concerning relevance.”No “later” about
it!Grice:“Under the category of QUALITY falls a supermaxim” – he forgets to
add, as per obvious, “The category of quality relates to the QUALITY of
information.” In this way, there is some reference to Aristotle’s summumm
genus. PROPOSITIO DEDICATIVA, PROPOSITIO ABDICATIVA, PROPOSITIO INFINITA. Cf.
Apuleius and Boethius on QUALITAS of propositio. Dedicatio takes priority over
abdicatio. So one expects one’s co-conversationalist to say that something IS
the case. Note too, that, if he used “more specific maxims and submaxims,” he
means “more specific supermaxims and maxims” – He is following Porophyry in
being confusing! Cf. supramaxim. Grice “-'Try to make your contribution one
that is true' –“This surely requires generality – and Grice spent the next two
decades about it. He introduced the predicate ‘acceptability.’ “Try to make
your contribution one that is acceptable”“True for your statements; good for
your desiderative-mode utterances.”“and two more specific maxims:”“1. Do not say
what you believe to be false.”There is logic here. It is easy to TRY to make
your contribution one that is true.” And it is easy NOT to say what you believe
to be false. Grice is forbidding Kant to have a maxim on us: “Be truthful!”
“Say the true!” “MAKE – don’t just TRY – to make your contribution one that is
true.”“I was only trying.”Cf. Moses, “Try not to kill” “Thou shalt trye not to
kylle.”Grice:“2. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.”This is
involved with truth. In “Truth and other enigmas,” Dummett claims that truth
is, er, an enigma. For some philosophers, all you can guarantee is that you
have evidence. Lacking evidence for what?The qualification, “adequate,” turns
the maxim slightly otiose. Do not say that for you lack evidence which would
make your contribution not a true one.However, Grice is thinking Gettier. And
Gettier allows that one CAN have ADEQUATE EVIDENCE, and p NOT be true.If we are
talking ‘acceptability’ it’s more ‘ground’ or ‘reason’, rather than ‘evidential
justification.’ Grice is especially obsessed with this, in his explorations on
‘intending,’ where ‘acceptance’ is deemed even in the lack of ‘evidential
justification,’ and leaving him wondering what he means by ‘non-evidential
justification.’“Under the category of RELATION I place a single maxim, viz.,
'Be relevant.'”The category comes from Aristotle, ‘pros it.’ And ‘re-‘ in
relation is cognate with ‘re-‘ in ‘relevant.’RELATION refers to ‘refer,’ Roman ‘referre.’
But in Anglo-Norman, you do have ‘relate’ qua verb. To ‘refer’ or ‘re-late,’ is
to bring y back to x. As Russell well knows in his fight with Bradley’s theory
of ‘relation,’ a relation involves x and y. A relation is a two-place
predicate. What about X = xIs identity a relation, in the case of x = x?Can a
thing relate to itself?In cases where we introduce two variables. The maxim
states that one brings y back to x.“Mrs. Smith is an old windbag.”“The weather
has been delightful for this time of year, hasn’t it.”If INTENDED to mean, “You
ARE ignorant!,” then the conversationalist IS bring back “totally otiose remark
about the weather” to the previous insulting comment.To utter an utterly
irrelevant second move you have to be Andre Breton.“Though the maxim itself is
terse, its formulation conceals a number of problems that exercise me a good
deal: questions about what different kinds and focuses of relevance there may
be, how these shift in the course of a talk exchange, how to allow for the fact
that subjects of conversation are legitimately changed, and so on. I find the
treatment of such questions exceedingly difficult, and I hope to revert to them
in a later work.”He is having in mind Nowell-Smith, who had ‘be relevant’ as
the most important of the rules of conversational etiquette, or how etiquette
becomes logical. But Nowell-Smith felt overwhelmed by Grice and left for the
north, to settle in the very fashionable Kent. Grice is also having in mind
Urmson’s appositeness (Criteria of intensionality). “Why did you title your
painting “Maga’s Daughter”? She’s your wife!” – and Grice is also having in
mind P. F. Strawson and what Strawson has as the principle of relevance
vis-à-vis the principles of presumption of ignorance and knowledge.So it was in
the Oxonian air.“Finally, under the category of MODE, which I understand as
relating not (like the previous categories) to what is said [THE CONTENT, THE
EXPLICITUM, THE COMMUNICATUM, THE EXPLICATUM] but, rather, to HOW what is said
is to be said,”Grice says that ‘meaning’ is diaphanous. An utterer means that p
reduces to what an utterer means by x. This diaphanousness ‘meaning’ shares
with ‘seeing.’ “To expand on the experience of seeing is just to expand on what
is seen.’He is having the form-content distinction.If that is a distinction. This
multi-layered dialectic displays the true nature of the speculative
form/content distinction: all content is form and all form is content, not in a
uniform way, but through being always more or less relatively indifferent or
posited. The Role of the Form/Content
Distinction in Hegel's Science of ...deontologistics.files.wordpress.com ›
2012/01 › formc... PDF Feedback About Featured Snippets Web results The Form-Content Distinction in Moral
Development Researchwww.karger.com › Article › PDF The form-content distinction
is a potentially useful conceptual device for understanding certain
characteristics of moral development. In the most general sense it ... by CG
Levine - 1979 - Cited by 25 - Related articles The Form-Content Distinction in Moral
Development Research ...www.karger.com › Article › Abstract Dec 23, 2009 - The
Form-Content Distinction in Moral Development Research. Levine C.G.. Author
affiliations. University of Western Ontario, London, Ont. by CG Levine - 1979
- Cited by 25 - Related articles
Preschool children's mastery of the form/content distinction in
...www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › pubmed Preschool children's mastery of the
form/content distinction in communicative tasks. Hedelin L(1), Hjelmquist E.
Author information: (1)Department of Psychology, ... by L Hedelin - 1998 -
Cited by 10 - Related articles Form
and Content: An Introduction to Formal Logic - Digital
...digitalcommons.conncoll.edu › cgi › viewcontentPDF terminology has to do
with anything. In this context, 'material' means having to do with content.
This is our old friend, the form/content distinction again. Consider. by DD
Turner - 2020 Simmel's Dialectic of
Form and Content in Recent Work in ...www.tandfonline.com › doi › full May 1,
2019 - This suggests that for Simmel, the form/content distinction was not a
dualism; instead, it was a duality.11 Ronald L. Breiger, “The Duality of
... Are these distinctions between
“form” and “content” intentionally ...www.reddit.com › askphilosophy › comments
› are_th... The form/content distinction also doesn't quite fit the distinction
between form and matter (say, in Aristotle), although Hegel develops the
distinction between form ... Preschool
Children's Mastery of the Form/Content Distinction ...link.springer.com ›
article Preschoolers' mastery of the form/content distinction in language and
communication, along its contingency on the characteristics of p. by L Hedelin
- 1998 - Cited by 10 - Related articles
Verbal Art: A Philosophy of Literature and Literary
Experiencebooks.google.com › books Even if form and content were in fact
inseparable in the sense indicated, that would not make the form/content
distinction unjustified. Form and matter are clearly ... Anders Pettersson -
2001 - Literary Criticism One Century
of Karl Jaspers' General Psychopathologybooks.google.com › books He then
outlines the most important implications of the form–content distinction in a
statement which is identical in the first three editions, with only minor ...
Giovanni Stanghellini, Thomas Fuchs - 2013 - Medical“I include the
supermaxim-'Be perspicuous' –” Or supramaxim. So the “more specific maxims and
submaxims” becomes the clumsier “supermaxims and maxims”Note that in under the
first category it is about making your contribution, etc. Now it is the utterer
himself who has to be ‘perspicuous,’ as it is the utterer who has to be relevant.
It’s not the weaker, “Make your contribution a perspicuous one.” Or “Make your
contribution a relevant one (to the purposes of the exchange).”Knowing that
most confound ‘perspicacity’ with ‘perspicuity,’ he added “sic,” but forgot to
pronounce it, in case it was felt as insulting. He has another ‘sic’ under the
prolixity maxim.“and various maxims such as: The “such as” is a colloquialism.Surely
it was added in the ‘lecture’ format. In written, it becomes viz. The fact that
the numbers them makes for ‘such as’ rather disimplicatable. “1. Avoid
obscurity of expression.”Unless you are Heracleitus. THEY told me, Heraclitus,
they told me you were dead, /They
brought me bitter news to hear and bitter tears to shed./I wept as I remember'd
how often you and I/Had tired the sun with talking and sent him down the
sky./And now that thou art lying, my dear old Carian guest,/A handful of grey
ashes, long, long ago at rest,/Still are thy pleasant voices, thy nightingales,
awake;/For Death, he taketh all away, but them he cannot take. In a way this is
entailed by “Be perspicuous,” if that means ‘be clear,’ in obtuse English.Be
clearTherefore, or what is the same thing. Thou shalt not not be obscure.2.
Avoid ambiguity.”Except as a trope, or ‘figure, (schema, figura). “Aequi-vocate,
if that will please your clever addressee.” Cf. Parker’s zeugma: “My apartment
was so small, that I've barely enough room to lay a
hat and a few friends“3. Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity).”Here he
added a ‘sic’ that he failed to pronounce in case it may felt as insulting. But
the idea of a self-refuting conversational maxim is surely Griceian, in a
quessertive way. Since this concerns FORM rather than CONTENT, it is not meant
to overlap with ‘informativeness.’So given that p and q are equally
informative, if q is less brief (longer – ars longa, vita brevis), utter p.
This has nothing to do with logical strength. It is just to be assessed in a
SYNTACTICAL way.Vide “Syntactics in Semiotics”“4. Be orderly.”This involves two
moves in the contribution or ‘turn.’ One cannot be ‘disorderly,’ if one just
utters ‘p.’ So this involves a molecular proposition. The ‘order’ can be of
various types. Indeed, one of Grice’s example is “Jones is between Smith and
Williams” – order of merit or size?‘Between’ is not ambiguous!There is LOGICAL
order, which is prior.But there is a more absolute use of ‘orderly.’ ‘keep your
room tidy.’orderly (adj.) 1570s, "arranged in
order," from order (n.) + -ly (1). Meaning "observant of rule or
discipline, not unruly" is from 1590s. Related: Orderliness.He does not in
the lecture give a philosophical example, but later will in revisiting the
Urmson example and indeed Strawson, but mainly Urmson, “He went to bed and took
off his boots,” and indeed Ryle, “She felt frail and took arsenic.”“And
one might need others.”Regarding ‘mode,’ that is. “It is obvious that the
observance of some of these maxims is a matter of less urgency than is the
observance of others;”Not as per ‘moral’ demands, since he’ll say these are not
MORAL.“a man who has expressed himself with undue prolixity would, in general,
be open to milder comment than would a man who has said something he believes
to be false.”Except in Oscar Wilde’s circle, where they were obsessed with
commenting on prolixities! Cf. Hare against Kant, “Where is the prisoner?” “He
left [while he is hiding in the attic].”That’s why Grice has the ‘in general.’“Indeed,
it might be felt that the importance of at least the first maxim of Quality is
such that it should not be included in a scheme of the kind I am constructing;”But
since ‘should’ is weak, I will. “other maxims come into operation only on the
assumption that this maxim of Quality is satisfied.”So the keyword is
co-ordination.“While this may be correct, so far as the generation of implicatures
is concerned it seems to play a role not totally different from the other
maxims, and it will be convenient, for the present at least, to treat it as a
member of the list of maxims.”He is having weighing, and clashing in mind. And
he wants a conversationalist to honour truth over informativeness, which begs
the question that as he puts it, ‘false’ “information” is no information.In the
earlier lectures, tutoring, or as a university lecturer, he was sure that his
tutee will know that he was introducing maxims ONLY WITH THE PURPOSE, NEVER TO
MORALISE, but as GENERATORS of implicata – in philosophers’s mistakes.But this
manoeuver is only NOW disclosed. Those without a philosophical background may
not realise about this. “There are, of course, all sorts of other maxims
(aesthetic, social, or moral in character), such as 'Be polite', that are also
normally observed by participants in talk exchanges, and these may also generate
nonconventional implicatures.”He is obviously aware that Émile DurkheimWill Know that ‘conversational’ is subsumed
under ‘social,’ if not Williamson (perhaps).
– keyword: ‘norm.’ Grice excludes ‘moral’ because while a moral maxim
makes a man ‘good,’ a conversational maxim makes a man a ‘good’
conversationalist. Not because there is a distinction in principle!“The
conversational maxims, however, and the conversational implicatures connected
with them, are specially connected (I hope) with”He had this way with
idioms.Cf. Einstein,“E =, I hope, mc2.”“the particular purposes that talk (and
so, talk exchange)”He is playing Dutch.The English lost the Anglo-Saxon for
‘talk.’ They have ‘language,’ and the Hun has ‘Sprache.’ But only the Dutch
have ‘taal.’So he is distinguishing between the TOOL and the USE of the TOOL.“is
adapted lo serve and is primlarily employed to serve.”The ‘adapted’ is
mechanistic talk. He mentions ‘evolutionarily’ elsewhere. He means ‘the
particular goal language evolved to serve, viz.’ groom.Grooming,
Gossip and the Evolution of Language is a 1996 book by the anthropologist Robin
Dunbar, in which the author argues that language evolved from social grooming.
He further suggests that a stage of this evolution was the telling of gossip,
an argument supported by the observation that language is adapted for storytelling.
The book has been criticised on the grounds that since words are so cheap,
Dunbar's "vocal grooming" would fall short in amounting to an honest
signal. Further, the book provides no compelling story[citation needed] for how
meaningless vocal grooming sounds might become syntactical speech. Thesis
Dunbar argues that gossip does for group-living humans what manual grooming
does for other primates—it allows individuals to service their relationships
and thus maintain their alliances on the basis of the principle: if you scratch
my back, I'll scratch yours. Dunbar argues that as humans began living in
increasingly larger social groups, the task of manually grooming all one's
friends and acquaintances became so time-consuming as to be unaffordable.[1] In
response to this problem, Dunbar argues that humans invented 'a cheap and
ultra-efficient form of grooming'—vocal grooming. To keep allies happy, one now
needs only to 'groom' them with low-cost vocal sounds, servicing multiple
allies simultaneously while keeping both hands free for other tasks. Vocal
grooming then evolved gradually into vocal language—initially in the form of
'gossip'.[1] Dunbar's hypothesis seems to be supported by the fact that the
structure of language shows adaptations to the function of narration in
general.[2] Criticism Critics of Dunbar's theory point out that the very
efficiency of "vocal grooming"—the fact that words are so cheap—would
have undermined its capacity to signal honest commitment of the kind conveyed
by time-consuming and costly manual grooming.[3] A further criticism is that
the theory does nothing to explain the crucial transition from vocal
grooming—the production of pleasing but meaningless sounds—to the cognitive
complexities of syntactical speech.[citation needed] References
Dunbar, R. I. M. (1996). Grooming, gossip and the evolution of language.
London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 9780571173969. OCLC 34546743. von Heiseler,
Till Nikolaus (2014) Language evolved for storytelling in a super-fast
evolution. In: R. L. C. Cartmill, Eds. Evolution of Language. London: World
Scientific, pp. 114-121.
https://www.academia.edu/9648129/LANGUAGE_EVOLVED_FOR_STORYTELLING_IN_A_SUPER-FAST_EVOLUTION
Power, C. 1998. Old wives' tales: the gossip hypothesis and the reliability of
cheap signals. In J. R. Hurford, M. Studdert Kennedy and C. Knight (eds),
Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, pp. 111 29. Categories: 1996 non-fiction
booksAmerican non-fiction booksBooks by Robin DunbarEnglish-language
booksEvolution of languageHarvard University Press booksPopular science booksGrice:
“I have stated my maxims”the maxims“as if this purpose were a maximally effective
exchange of information;”“MAXIMALLY EFFECTIVE”“this specification is, of
course, too narrow,”But who cares?This is slightly sad in that he is thinking
Strawson and forgetting his (Grice’s) own controversy with G. A. Paul on the
sense-datum, for ‘the pillar box seems red’ and ‘the pillar box is red,’
involving an intensional context, are less amenable to fall under the maxims.“and
the scheme needs to be generalized to allow for such general purposes as
influencing or directing the actions of others.”He has a more obvious way
below:Giving and receving informationInfluencing and being influenced by others.He
never sees the purpose as MAXIMAL INFORMATION, but maximally effective EXCHANGE
of information – does he mean merely ‘transmission.’ It may well be.If I say,
“I rain,” I have ex-changed information.I don’t need anything in return.If so,
it makes sense that he is equating INFORMING With INFLUENCING or better DIRECTION your
addresse’s talk.Note that, for all he loved introspection and conversational
avowals, and self-commands, these do not count.It’s informing your addressee
about some state of affairs, and directing his action. Grice is always clear
that the ULTIMATE GOAL is the utterer’s ACTION.“As one of my avowed aims is to
see talking as a special case or variety of purposive, indeed rational,
behavior, it may be worth noting that the specific expectations or presumptions
connected with at least some of the foregoing maxims have their analogues in
the sphere of transactions that are not talk exchanges.”Transaction is a good
one.TRANS-ACTIO“I list briefly one such analog for each conversational
category.”While he uses ‘conversational category,’ he also applies it to the
second bit: ‘category of conversational quantity,’ ‘category of conversational
quality,’ ‘category of conversational relation,’ and ‘category of conversational
mode.’ But it is THIS application that justifies the sub-specifications.They
are not categories of thought or ontological or ‘expression’.His focus is on
the category as conversation.His focus is on the ‘conversational category.’“1.
Quantity. If you are assisting me to mend a car, I expect your contribution to
be neither more nor less than is required; if, e. g., at a particular stage I
need fourscrews, I expect you to hand me four, rather than two or six. He
always passed six, since two will drop.“Make your contribution neither more nor
less informative than is required (for the purposes of the exchange).”This
would have covered the maxi and the min.“NEITHER MORE NOR LESS” is the formula
of effectiveness, and economy, and minimization of expenditure.“2. Quality. I
expect your contributions to be genuine and not spurious.”Here again he gives
an expansion of the conversational category, which is more general than ‘try to
make your contribution one that is true,’ and the point about the ‘quality of
information,’ which he did not make.Perhaps because it would have led him to
realise that ‘false’ information, i.e. ‘information’ which is not genuine and spurious,
is not ‘information.’But “Make your contribution one that is genuine and not
spurious.”Be candid.Does not need a generalization as it covers both informational
and directive utterances.“If I need sugar as an ingredient in the cake you are
assisting me to make, I do not expect you to hand me salt;”Or you won’t eat the
cake.“if I need a spoon, I do not expect a trick spoon made of rubber.”Spurious
and genuine are different.In the ‘trick spoon,’ the conversationalist is just
not being SERIOUS.But surely a maxim, “Be serious” is too serious. –
Seriously!“3. Relation. I expect a partner's contribution to be appropriate to
immediate needs at each stage of the transaction;”Odd that he would use
‘appropriate,’ which was the topic of the “Prolegomena,” and what he was
supposed to EXPLAIN, not to use in the explanation.For each of the philosophers
making a mistake are giving a judgment of ‘appropriateness,’ conversational
appropriateness. Here it is good that he relativises the ‘appropriateness’ TO
the ‘need’.Grice is not quite sticking to the etymology of ‘relatio’ and
‘refer,’ bring y back to x. Or he is. Bring y (your contribution) back to the
need x.Odd that he thinks he’ll expand more on relation, when he did a good
bit!“if I am mixing ingredients for a cake, I do not expect to be handed a good
book, or even an oven cloth (though this might be an appropriate contribution
at a later stage).”“I just expect you to be silent.”“4. Manner. I expect a
partner to make it clear what contribution he is making, and to execute his
performance with reasonable dispatch.” For Lewis, clarity is not enough!The
‘Execute your performance with reasonable dispatch!’ seems quite different from
“Be perspicuous.”“Execute your performance with reasonable dispatch”Is more
like“Execute your performance”And not just STAND there!A: What time is it B
just stands there“These analogies are relevant to what I regard as a
fundamental question about the principle of conversational helpfulness and its
attendant conversational maxims,”For Boethius, it is a PRINCIPLE because it
does not need an answer!“viz., what the basis is for the assumption which we
seem to make, and on which (I hope) it will appear that a great range of
implicatures depend [especially as we keep on EXPLOITING the rather otiose
maxims], that talkers will ingeneral (ceteris paribus and in the absence of
indications to the contrary) proceed in the manner that these principles
prescribe.”Grice really doesn’t care! He is into the EXPLOITING of the maxim,
as in his response to the Scots philosopher G. A. Paul:“Paul, I surely do not
mean to imply that you may end up believing that I have a doubt about the
pillar box being red: it seems red to me, as I have this sense-datum of
‘redness’ which attaches to me as I am standing in front of the pillar box in
clear daylight.”Grice is EXPLOITING the desideratum, YET STILL SAYING SOMETHING
TRUE, so at least he is not VIOLATING the principle of conversational
helpfulness, or the category of conversational quality, or the desideratum of
conversational candour.And that is what he is concerned with. “A dull but, no doubt at a certain level,
adequate answer is that it is just a well-recognized empirical fact that *people*
(not pirots, although perhaps Oxonians, rather than from Malagasy) DO behave in
these ways;”Elinor Ochs was terrified Grice’s maxims are violated – never
exploited, she thought – in Madagascar.“they, i. e. people, or Oxonians, have
learned to do so in childhood and not lost the habit of doing so; and, indeed,
it would involve a good deal of effort to make a radical departure from the
habit. It is much easier, for example, to tell the truth than to invent lies.”Effort
again; least effort. And ease. Great Griceian guidelines!“I am, however, enough
of a rationalist to want to find a basis that underlies these facts,”OR
EXPLAIN.“undeniable though they may be;”BEIGIN OF A THEORY FOR A THEORY – not
the theory for the generation of implicate, but for the theory of conversation.He
is less interested in this than the other. “I would like to be able to think of
the standard type of conversational practice not merely as something that all
or most do IN FACT follow but as something that it is REASONABLE for us to
follow, that we SHOULD NOT abandon. For a time, I was attracted by the idea
that observance of the principle of conversational helpfulness and the conversational
maxims, in a talk exchange, could be thought of as a quasi-contractual matter,
with parallels outside the realm of discourse. If you pass by when I am
struggling with my stranded car, I no doubt have some degree of expectation
that you will offer help, but once you join me in tinkering under the hood, my
expectations become stronger and take more specific forms (in the absence of
indications that you are merely an incompetent meddler); and talk exchanges
seemed to me to exhibit, characteristically, certain features that jointly distinguish
cooperative transactions:”So how is this not quasi-contractual? He is listing THIS OR THAT FEATURE that
jointly distinguishes a cooperative transaction – all grand great words.But he
wants to say that ‘quasi-contractual’ is NO RATIONAL!He is playing, as a
philosopher, with the very important point of what follows from what.A1.
Conversasation is purposiveA2. Conversation is rationalA3. Conversation is
cooperativeA4. There is such a thing as non-rational cooperation (is there?)So
he is aiming at the fact that the FEATURES that jointly distinguish cooperative
transactions NEED NOT BE PRESENT, and Grice surely does not wish THAT to
demolish his model. If he bases it in general constraints of rationality, the
better.“1. The participants have some common immediate aim, like getting a car
mended; their ultimate aims may, of course, be independent and even in
conflict-each may want to get the car mended in order to drive off, leaving the
other stranded. In characteristic talk exchanges, there is a common aim even
if, as in an over-the-wall chat, it is a second-order one,”Is he being logical?“second-order
predicate calculus”“meta-language”He means higher or supervenientOr
‘operative’“, that each party should, for the time being, identify himself with
the transitory conversational interests of the other.”By identify he means
assume.YOU HAVE TO DESIRE what your partner desires.The intersection between
your desirability and your addressee’s desirability is not NULL.And the way to
do this is conditionalIF: You perceive B has Goal G, you assume Goal G. “2. The
contributions of the participants .should be dovetailed, mutually dependent. Unless
it’s one of those seminars by Grice and J. F. Thomson!“3. There is some sort of
understanding (which may be explicit but which is often tacit)”i.e. implicated
rather than explicated – part of the implicatum, or implicitum, rather than the
explicatum or explicitum.“that, other things being equal, the transaction
should continue in appropriate style unless both parties are agreeable that it
should terminate. You do not just shove off or start doing something else.”This
is especially tricky over the phone (“He never ends!” Or in psychiatric
interviews!)Note that ‘starting doing something else’ may work. E. g. watch
your watch!“But while some such quasi-contractual basis as this may apply to
some cases, there are too many types of exchange, like quarreling and letter
writing, that it fails to fit comfortably.”TWO OPPOSITE EXAMPLES.Fighting is
arguing is competition, adversarial, epagogue, not conversation,
cooperation, friendly, collaborative
venture, and diagoge.Letter writing is usually otiose – “what, with the
tellyphone!” And letter writing is no conversation.“In any case, one feels that
the talker who is irrelevant or obscure has primarily let down not his audience
but himself.”And the talker who is mendacious has primarily let Kant down!”“So
I would like t< be able to show that observance of the principle of
conversational helfpulness and maxims is reasonal de (rational) along the
following lines”That any Aristkantian rationalist would agree to.“: that any
one who cares about the goals that are central to conversation/communication
(e.g., giving and receiving information, influencing and being influenced by
others) must be expected to have an interest, given suitable circumstances, in
participation in talk exchanges that will be profitable only on the assumption
that they are conducted in general accordance with the principle of
conversational helpfulness and the maxims.”Where the keyword is: profit,
effort, least effort, no energy, no undue effort, no unnecessary trouble. That
conversation is reasonable unless it is unreasonable. That a conversational
exchange should be rational unless it shows features of irrationality.“Whether
any such conclusion can be reached, I am uncertain;”It’s not clear what the
premises are!Plus, he means DEDUCTIVELY reached? Transcendentally reached?
Empirically reached? Philosophically reached? Conclusively reached? Etc.It
seems the conclusion need not be reached, because we never departed from the
state of the affairs that the conclusion describes.“in any case, I am fairly
sure that I cannot reach it until I am a good deal clearer about the nature of
relevance and of the circumstances in which it is required.”For perhaps “I
don’t want to imply any doubt, but that pillar box seems red.”IS irrelevant,
yet true!“It is now time to show the connection between the principle of
conversational helfpulness and the conversational maxims, on the one hand, and
conversational implicature on the other.”This is clearer in the seminars. The
whole thing was a preamble “A participant in a talk exchange may fail to
fulfill a maxim in various ways, which include the following: 1. He may quietly
and unostentatiously VIOLATE (or fail to observe) a maxim; if so, in some cases
he will be liable to mislead.”And be blamed by Kant.Mislead should not worry
Grice, cf. “Misleading, but true.”The violate (or fail to observe) shows that
(1) covers two specifications. Tom may be unaware that there was such a maxim
as to ‘be brief, avoid unnecessary prolixity, unless you need to eschew
obfuscation!”This is Grice’s anti-Ryleism. He doesn’t want to say that there is
KNOWLEDGE of the maxims. For one may know what the maxims are and fail to
observe them “2. He may OPT OUT from the operation both of the maxim and of the
principle of conversational helpfulness; he may say, indicate, or allow it to
become plain that he is unwilling to cooperate in the way the maxim requires.
He may say, e. g., I cannot say more; my lips are sealed.” Where is the
criminal?I cannot say more; my lips are sealed.I shall unseal them. What do you
mean ‘cannot.’ You don’t mean ‘may not,’ do you?I think Grice means ‘may
not.’Is the universe finite? Einstein: I cannot say more; my lips are sealed. “3.
He may be faced by a CLASH of maxims [That’s why he needs more than one – or at
least two specifications of the same maxim]: He may be unable, e. g., to
fulfill the first maxim of Quantity (Be as informative as is required) without
violating the second maxim of Quality (Have adequate evidence for what you
say).” Odd that he doesn’t think this generates implicature: He has obviously
studied the sub-perceptualities here.For usually, a phenomenalist, like Sextus,
thinks that by utteringThe pillar box seems red to me – that is all I have
adequate evidence forHe is conveying that he is unable to answer the question
(“What colour is the pillar box?”) And being as ‘informative’ as is
requiredWithout saying something for which it is not the case that he has or will
ever have adequate evidence.Cf.Student at Koenigsberg to Kant: What’s the
noumenon?Kant: My lips are sealed.It may require some research to list ALL
CLASHES.Because each clash shows some EVALUATION qua reasoning, and it may be
all VERY CETERIS PARIBUS.Cf.Where is the criminal?My lips are sealed.The
utterer has NOT opted out. He has answered, via implicature, that he is not
telling. He is being relevant. He is not telling because he doesn’t want to
DISCLOSE the whereabouts of the alleged criminal, etc. For Kant, this is not a
conversation! Odd that Grice is ‘echoing Kant,’ where Kant would hardly allow a
clash with ‘Be truthful!’“4. He may FLOUT a maxim; that is, he may BLATANTLY
fail to fulfill (or observe) it.Mock? Taunt?The magic flute. Grice’s magic
flute.flout (v.) "treat with disdain or
contempt" (transitive), 1550s, intransitive sense "mock, jeer,
scoff" is from 1570s; of uncertain origin; perhaps a special use of Middle
English “flowten,”"to play the flute" (compare Middle Dutch
“fluyten,” "to play the flute," also "to jeer"). Related:
Flouted; flouting.Grice: “One thing we do not know is if the flute came to
England via Holland.”“Or he may, as we may say, ‘play the flute’ with a maxim,
expecting others to be agreeable.”“Or he may, as we might say, ‘play the flute’
with the conversational maxim, expecting others to join with some other musical
instrument – or something – occasionally the same.”“On the assumption
that the speaker is able to fulfill the maxim and to do so without violating
another maxim (because oi a clash), is not opting out, and is not, in view of
the blatancy of his performance, trying to mislead,”This is interesting. It’s
the TRYING to mislead.Grice and G. A. Paul:Grice cannot be claimed to have
TRIED to mislead, and thus deemed to have misled G. A. Paul, even if he had,
when he said, “I hardly think there is any doubt about it, but that pillar box
seems red to me.”“the hearer is faced with a minor problem:”Implicature: This
reasoning is all abductive – to the ‘best’ explanation“How can his saying what
he did say be reconciled with the supposition that he is observing the overall
principle of conversational helfpulness?”This was one of Grice’s conversations
with G. A. Paul:Paul (to Grice): This is what I do not understand, Grice. How
can your saying what you did say be reconciled with the supposition that you
are not going to mislead me?”Unfortunately, on that Saturday, Paul went to the
Irish Sea. Grice “This situation is one that characteristically”There are others
– vide clash, above – but not marked by Grice as one such situation – “gives
rise to a conversational implicature; and when a conversational implicature is
generated”Chomskyan jargon borrowed from Austin (“I don’t see why Austin
admired Chomsky so!”)“in this way, I shall say that a maxim is being
EXPLOITED.”Why not ‘flouted’? Some liked the idea of playing the flute.EXPLOIT
is figurative.Grice exploits a Griceian maxim.exploit (v.) c. 1400, espleiten, esploiten "to accomplish,
achieve, fulfill," from Old French esploitier, espleiter "carry out,
perform, accomplish," from esploit (see exploit (n.)). The sense of
"use selfishly" first recorded 1838, from a sense development in
French perhaps from use of the word with reference to mines, etc. (compare
exploitation). Related: Exploited; exploiting.exploit (n.) late 14c.,
"outcome of an action," from Old French esploit "a carrying out;
achievement, result; gain, advantage" (12c., Modern French exploit), a
very common word, used in senses of "action, deed, profit,
achievement," from Latin explicitum "a thing settled, ended, or
displayed," noun use of neuter of explicitus, past participle of explicare
"unfold, unroll, disentangle," from ex "out" (see ex-) +
plicare "to fold" (from PIE root *plek- "to plait").
Meaning "feat, achievement" is c. 1400. Sense evolution is from
"unfolding" to "bringing out" to "having
advantage" to "achievement." Related:
Exploits. exploitative (adj.) "serving for or used in exploitation,"
1882, from French exploitatif, from exploit (see exploit (n.)). Alternative
exploitive (by 1859) appears to be a native formation from exploit +
-ive.exploitation (n.) 1803, "productive working" of something, a
positive word among those who used it first, though regarded as a Gallicism,
from French exploitation, noun of action from exploiter (see exploit (v.)). Bad
sense developed 1830s-50s, in part from influence of French socialist writings
(especially Saint Simon), also perhaps influenced by use of the word in U.S.
anti-slavery writing; and exploitation was hurled in insult at activities it
once had crowned as praise. It follows from this science [conceived by
Saint Simon] that the tendency of the human race is from a state of antagonism
to that of an universal peaceful association -- from the dominating influence
of the military spirit to that of the industriel one; from what they call
l'exploitation de l'homme par l'homme to the exploitation of the globe by
industry. ["Quarterly Review," April & July 1831] Grice: “I am now
in a position to characterize the notion of conversational implicature.”Not to
provide a reductive analysis. The concept is too dear for me to torture it with
one of my metaphysical routines.”“A man who, by (in, when) saying (or making as
if to say) that p”That seems good for the analysandumGrice loves the “by (in,
when)” “(or making as if to). Note the oratio obliqua.Or ‘that’-clause. So this
is not ‘uttering’As in the analysans of ‘meaning that.’“By uttering ‘x’ U means
that p.’The “by” already involves a clause with a ‘that’-clause.So this is not
a report of a physical event.It is a report embued already with intentionality.The
utterer is not just ‘uttering’The utterer is EXPLICITLY conveying that p.We
cannot say MEANING that p.Because Grice uses “mean” as opposed to “explicitly
convey”His borderline scenarios are such,“Keep me company, dear”“If we are to
say that when he uttererd that he means that his wife was to keep him company
or not is all that will count for me to change my definition of ‘mean’ or
not.”Also irony.But here it is more complicated. A man utters, “Grice defeated
Strawson”If he means it ironically, to mean that Strawson defeated Grice, it is
not the case that the utterer MEANT the opposite. He explicitly conveyed that.Grice
considers the Kantian ‘cause and effect,’“If I am dead, I shall have no time
for reading.”He is careful here that the utterer does not explicitly conveys
that he will have no time for reading – because it’s conditioned on he being
dead.“has implicated that q,” “may be said to have conversationally implicated
that q,”So this is a specification alla arbor porphyrana of ‘By explicitly
conveying that p, U implicitly conveys that q.’Where he is adding the second-order
adverb, ‘conversationally.’By explicitly conveying that p, U has implicitly
conveyed that q in a CONVERSATIONAL FASHION” iff or if“PROVIDED THAT”“(1) he is
to be presumed to be observing the conversational maxims, or at least the principle
of conversational helfpulness;”Especially AT LEAST, because he just said that
an implicatum is ‘generated’ (Chomskyan jargon) when AT LEAST A MAXIM IS played the flute.“(2) the
supposition that he is aware that, or thinks that, q is required in order to
make his saying or making as if to say p (or doing so in THOSE terms)
consistent with this presumption;”THIS IS THE CRUCIAL CLAUSE – and the one that
not only requires ONE’S RATIONALITY, but the expectation that one’s addressee,
BEING RATIONAL, will expect the utterer to BE RATIONAL.This is the
‘rationalisation’ he refers to in “Retrospective Epilogue.”Note that ‘q’ is
obviously now the content of a state in the utterer’s soul – a desideratum or a
creditum --, at least a CREDITUM, in view of Grice’s view of everything at
least exhibitive and perhaps protreptic --“and (3) the speaker thinks (and
would expect the hearer to think that the speaker thinks) that it is within the
competence of the hearer to work out, or grasp intuitively, that the supposition
mentioned in (2) IS required.”All that jargon about mutuality is a result of
Strawson tutoring Schiffer!“Apply this to my initial example, to B's remark that
C has not yet been to prison.”What made Grice think of such a convoluted
example?He was laughing at Searle for providing non-philosophical examples, and
there he is!“In a suitable setting A might reason as follows:”“(1) B has
APPARENTLY violated – indeed he has played the flute with -- the maxim 'Be
relevant' and so may be regarded as [ALSO] having flouted one of the maxims
conjoining perspicuity,”In previous versions, under the desideratum of
conversational clarity Grice had it that the desideratum included the
expectation of this ‘relatedness’ AND that of ‘perspicuity’ (sic). In the
above, Grice is stating that if you are irrelevant (or provide an unrelated
contribution) you are not being perspicuous.But “He hasn’t been to prison” is
perspicuous enough.And so is the link to the question --.Plus, wasn’t
perspicuity only to apply to the ‘mode,’ to the ‘form,’ rather than the
content.Here it is surely the CONTENT – that it is not the case that C is a
criminal – that triggers it all.So, since there is a “not,” here this is
parallel to the example examined by Strawson in the footnote to “Logical
Theory.”The utterer is saying that it is not the case that C has been in prison
yet.The ‘yet’ makes all the difference, even if a Fregeian colouring
‘convention’!“It is not the case that C has been in prison” Is, admittedly, not
very perspicuous.“So what, neither has the utterer nor the addressee.”So there
is an equivocation here as to the utterance perhaps not being perspicuous,
while the utterer IS perspicuous.“yet I have no reason to suppose that he is
opting out from the operation of the CP;”Or playing the flute with my beloved
principle of conversational helpfulness.“(2) given the circumstances, I can
regard his irrelevance as only apparent – as when we say that a plastic flower
is not a flower, or to use Austin’s example, “That decoy duck is surely not a
duck! That trick rubber spoon is no spoon! -- if, and only if, I suppose him to
think that C is potentially dishonest;”As many are!The potentially is the
trick.Recall Aristotle: “Will I say that I am potentially dishonest?! Not me!
PLATO was! Theophrastus WILL! Or is it ‘shall’?”“(3) B knows that I am capable
of working out step (2). So B implicates that C is potentially dishonest.'”Unless
he goes on like I go with G. A. Paul, “I do not mean of course to mean that I
mean that he is potentially dishonest, because although he is, he shouldn’t, or
rather, I don’t think you are expecting me to convey explicitly that he shouln’t
or should for that matter.”“The presence of a conversational implicature must
be capable of being worked out; for even if it can in fact be intuitively
grasped, unless the intuition is replaceable by an argument, the implicature
(if present at all) will not count as a CONVERSATIONAL implicature.”This is the
Humpty Dumpty in Grice.Cf. Provide the sixteen derivational steps in Jane
Austen’s Novel remark, “I sense and sensibilia” – This is what happens
sometimes when people who are not philosophers engage with Grice!For a
philosopher, it is clear Grice is not being serious there. He is mocking an
‘ideal’-language philosopher (as Waissmann called them). Let’s revise the
word:By “counting” he means “DEEM.” He has said that “She is poor, but she is
honest,” is NOT CALCULABLE. So if an argument is not produced, this may not be
a matter of argument.Philosophers are OBSESSED, and this is Grice’s trick, with
ARGUMENT. Recall Grice on Hardie, “Unlike my father, who was rather blunt,
Hardie taught me to ARGUE for this or that reason.”His mention of “INTUITION”
is not perspicuous. He told J. M. Rountree that meaning is a matter of
INTUITION, not a theoretical concept within a theory.So it’s not like Grice
does not trust the intuition. So the point is TERMINOLOGICAL and
methodological. Terminological, in that this is a specfification of
‘conversationally,’ rather than for cases like “How rude!” (he just flouted the
maxim ‘be polite!’ but ‘be polite’ is not a CONVERSATIONAL maxim. Is Grice
implicating that nonconversational nonconventional implicate are not
calculable? We don’t think so.But he might.I think he will. Because in the case
of ‘aesthetic maxim,’ ‘moral maxim,’ and ‘social maxim’ – such as “be polite,”
– the calculation may involve such degree of gradation that you better not get
Grice started!“it will be a CONVENTIONAL implicature.”OK – So perhaps he does
allow that non-conventional non-conversational implicate ARE calculable.But he
may add:“Unless the intuition is replaceable by an argument, it will not be a
conversational implicature; it will be a conventional implicature.”Strawson:
“And what nonconventional nonconversational implicate?Grice: You are right,
Strawon. Let me modify and refine the point: “It will be a dull, boring,
undetachable, conventional implicatum – OR any of those dull implicate that
follow from (or result – I won’t use ‘generate’) one of those maxims that I
have explicitly said they were NOT conversational maxims.“For surely, there is
something very ‘contradictory-sounding’ to me saying that the implicatum is
involved with the flouting of a maxim which is NOT a conversational maxim, and
yet that the maxim is a CONVERSATIONAL implicature.”“Therefore, I restrict
calculability to CONVERSATIONAL IMPLICATURE, because it involves the
conversational maxims that contributors are expected to be reciprocal; whereas
you’ll agree that Queen Victoria does not need to be abide with ‘be polite,’ as
she frequently did not – “We are not amused, you fools! Only Gilbert and
Sullivan amuse me!””“To work out that a particular CONVERSATIONAL [never mind
nonconversational nonconventional] implicature is present, the hearer will
reply on the following data:”As opposed to ‘sense-datum.’Perhaps assumption,
alla Gettier, is better:“ (1) the conventional meaning of the words used,
together with the identity of any references that may be involved;”WoW Quite a
Bit. This is the reason why Grice entitled WoW his first book.In he hasn’t been
to ‘prison’ we are not using ‘prison’ as Witters does (“My language is my
prison”).Strawson: But is that the CONVENTIONAL meaning? Even for King Alfred?He hasn't been to prisonprison (n.) early 12c.,
from Old French prisoun "captivity, imprisonment; prison; prisoner,
captive" (11c., Modern French prison), altered (by influence of pris
"taken;" see prize (n.2)) from earlier preson, from Vulgar Latin
*presionem, from Latin prensionem (nominative prensio), shortening of
prehensionem (nominative *prehensio) "a taking," noun of action from
past participle stem of prehendere "to take" (from prae- "before,"
see pre-, + -hendere, from PIE root *ghend- "to seize,
take"). "Captivity," hence by extension "a place for
captives," the MAIN modern sense.” (There are 34 other unmain ones). He
hasn't been to a place for captives yet.You mean he is one.Cf. He hasn't
been to asylum.You mean Foucault?(2) the principle of conversational
helpfulness and this and that conversational maxim;”This is more crucial seeing
that the utterer may utter something which has no conventional meaning?Cf.
Austin, “Don’t ask for the meaning of a word! Less so for the ‘conventional’
one!”What Grice needs is ‘the letter,’ so he can have the ‘spirit’ as the
implicatum. Or he needs the lines, so he can have the implicatum as a reading
‘between the lines.’If the utterance is a gesture, like showing a bandaged leg,
or a Neapolitan rude gesture, it is difficult to distinguish or to identify
what is EXPLICITLY conveyed.By showing his bandaged leg, U EXPLICITLY conveys
that he has a bandaged leg. And IMPLICITLY conveys that he cannot really play
cricket.The requirement of ‘denotatum’ is even tricker, “Swans are beautiful.”
Denotata? Quantificational? Substitutional?In any case, Grice is not being
circular in requiring that the addressee should use as an assumption or datum
that U thinks that the expression E is generally uttered by utterers when they
m-intend that p.But there are tricks here.“(3) the context, linguistic or
otherwise, of the utterance;”Cf. Grice, “Is there a general context for a
general theory of context?”“(4) other items of background knowledge;”So you
don’t get:How is C getting on at the bank? My lips are sealed Why do you care
Mind your own business. Note that “he hasn’t been to prison yet” (meaning the
tautologous ‘he is potentially dishonest’) is the sort of tricky answer to a
tricky question! In asking, the asker KNOWS that he’ll get that sort of reply knowing
the utterer as he does. “and (5) the fact (or supposed fact) that all relevant
items falling under the previous headings are available to both participants
and both participants know or assume this to be the case.”This is Schiffer
reported by Strawson.“A general pattern for the working out of a conversational
implicature might be given as follows:”Again the abductive argument that any
tutee worth of Hardie might expect 'He has said that p;”Ie explicitly conveys
that p.Note the essential oratio obliqua, or that-clause.“there is no reason to
suppose. that he is not observing the maxims, or at least the principle of
conversational helpfulness”That is, he is not a prisoner of war, or anything.“He
could not be doing this unless he thought that q;”Or rather, even if more
tautologically still, he could not be doing so REASONABLY, as Austin would
forbid, unless…’ For if the utterer is IRRATIONAL (or always playing the flute)
surely he CAN do it!“he knows (and knows that I know that he knows) that I can
see that the supposition that he thinks that q IS required;”Assumed MUTUAL
RATIONALITY, which Grice fails to have added as assumption or datum. Cf.
paraconsistent logics – “he is using ‘and’ and ‘or’ in a ‘deviant’ logical way,
to echo Quine,” – He is an intuitionist, his name is Dummett.“he has done
nothing to stop me thinking that q; he intends me to think, or is at least
willing to allow me to think, that q; and so he has implicated that q.'”The
‘or’ is delightful, for m-intention requires ‘intention,’ but the intention
figures in previous positions, so ‘willingess to allow the addressee to think’
does PERFECTLY FINE! Especially at Oxford where we are ever so subtle!
conversational reason. Used in Retrospective, p. 369. Also: conversational
rationality. Surely, “principle of conversational rationality” sounds otiose.
Expectation of mutual rationality sounds better. Critique of conversational
reason sounds best! Grice is careful here. When he provides a reductive
analysis of ‘reasoning,’ this goes as follows: the reasoner reasons from
premise to conclusion. That’s the analysandum. What’s the analysans? At least
it involves TWO clauses: If the reasoner reasons from premise to conclusion, it
is assumed that he BELIEVES that the premise obtains; and he believes that the
conclusion obtains. This has to be generalised to cover the desiderative, using
‘accept.’ He accepts that the premise obtains, and he accepts that the
conclusion obtains. But there is obviously a SECOND condition: that the
conclusion follows from the premise! He uses ‘demonstrably’ for that, or the
demonstratum.’ He is open as to what kind of yielding is involved because he
wants to allow for inductive reasoning and abductive reasoning, not just
deductive reasoning. AND THERE IS A TYPICALLY GRICEIAN third condition,
involving CAUSATION. He had used ‘cause’ in reductive analyses before – if not
so much in ‘meaning,’ due to Urmson’s counterexample involving ‘bribery,’ where
‘cause’ does not seem to do – but in his analysis of ‘intending’ for the
British Academy. So at Oxford he promotes this THIRD causal condition as
involving that, naturally enough, it is the rasoner’s BELIEF that demonstrably
q follows from p, which CAUSES the reasoner TO BELIEVE (or more generally,
accept) that the conclusion obtains. Grice is happy with that belief in the
validity of the demonstration ‘populates’ the world of alethic beliefs, and
does not concern with generalising that into a generic ‘acceptance.’ The word
‘rationalist’ is anathema at Oxford, because tutor after tutor has brainwashed
their tutees that the distinction is ‘empiricst-rationalist’ and that at Oxford
we are ‘empiricists.’ So Grice is really being ‘heretic’ here in the words of
G. P. Baker.
co-operation. The hyphen in Strawson and Wiggins (p. 520).
copulatum. Grice uses ‘copula’ in PPQ. The term is sometimes used ambiguously, for
‘conjunctum.’ A conjunctive is called a copulative. But Grice obviously narrows
down the use of copulatum to izz and hazz. He is having in mind Strawson.The
formula does not allow for differences in tense and grammatical number; nor for
the enormous class of * all '-sentences which do not contain, as their main
verb, the verb * to be '. We might try to recast the sentences so that they at
least fitted into one of the two patterns * All x is y ' or ' All x are y ' ;
but the results would be, as English, often clumsy andt sometimes absurd. for Aristotle,
'Socrates is a man' is true "in virtue of his being that thing which
constitutes existing for him (being which constitutes his mode of
existence)," Hermann Weidemann, "In Defense of Aristotle's Theory of
Predication," p. 84— only so long as that "being" be taken as an
assertion of being per se. But Weidemann wants to take it merely copulatively.
In "Prädikation," p. 1196, he says that when 'is' is used as tertium
adiacens it has no meaning by itself, but merely signifies the connection of
subject and predicate. Cf. his "Aristoteles über das isolierte Aussagenwort,"
p. 154. H. P. Grice, "Aristotle on the Multiplicity of Being," also
rejects an existential reading of tertium adiacens and pushes for a copulative
one. Cf. Alan Code, "Aristotle: Essence and Accident," pp. 414-7. Aristotle has connected the semantic
multiplicity in the copula not with variation between predicates of one subject,
but with variation between essential (per se)predications upon different
(indeed categorially different) subjects (such ...eads me to wonder
whether Aristotle may be maintaining not only that the copula exhibits semantic ...An
extended treatment of my views about izzing and hazzing can be found in Alan. A
crucial ... on occasion admit catégorial variation in the sense of the copulative 'is', evidently is ... Aristotle
has connected the semantic multiplicity in the copula not with variation ...with
the copulative 'is';
so he rather strangely interprets the last remark. (1017a27-30) as alluding to
semantic multiplicity in the copula as being. (supposedly) a consequence of
semantic multiplicity in the existential 'is'. This interpretation seems
difficult to defend. When Aristotle says that predicates sometimes say
what a thing is, sometimes what is it like (its quality), sometimes how much it
is (its quantity) and so on, he seems to be saying that if we consider the
range of predicates which can be applied to some item, for example to a
substance like Socrates or a cow, these predicates are categorically
various, and so the uses of the copula in the ascription of these predicates
will undergo corresponding variation"H. P. Grice brings the
question he had considered with J. L. Austin and P. F. Strawson at Oxford about
Aristotle’s categories.In “Categoriae,” Aristotle distinguishes two sorts of
case of the application of word or phrase to a range of situations. In one sort
of case, both the word and a single definition (account, “logos”) apply
throughout that range. In the other sort of case, the word but no single
definition applies through the range.These two sorts of case have a different
nature. In the first case, the word is applied synonymously (of better as
“sunonuma” – literally “sun-onuma”, cognomen). In the second case the word is
applied homonymously (or better “homonuma”, or aequi-vocally, literally
“homo-numa.”)Grice notes that a homonymous application has some sort of
sub-division which Aristotle calls "paronymy" (“paronuma”), literally
‘para onuma.’To put it roughly, homonyms have multiple meanings – what Grice
has as “semantic multiplicity.”Synonyms have one meaning or ONE SENSE, but
apply to different kinds of thing.A paronym, such as ‘be,’ derives from other
things of a different kind. Paronyms display a ‘UNIFIED semantic multiplicity,’
if that’s not too oxymoronic: how can the multiplicity be unified while
remaining a multiplicity? Aristotle states, confusingly, that "being is
said in many ways". As Grice notes, ‘good’ (agathon) also is a paronym
that displays unified semantic multiplicity.In Nichomachean Ethics, even more
confusingly, Aristotle says that "good is said in as many ways as
being". He doesn’t number the ways.So the main goal for Grice is to answer
the question: If, as Aristotle suggests, at least some expressions connected
with the notion of "being" exhibit semantic multiplicity, of which expressions
is the suggestion true? Grice faces the question of existential being and
Semantic Multiplicity. Grice stresses that Semantic Multiplicity of "be" is not only the case of it
interpretation. Other words he wants to know in what way of interpretation of
this word the philosophers can detect the SM. Generally speaking there are four
possible interpretations of "being": First, "be" is taken
to mean "exist.”Second, "be" is taken as a copula in a
predication statement.Third, "be" is taken for expressing the
identity.Fourth, "Being" is considered to be a noun (equivalent to
‘object' or ‘entity') – subjectification, category shift: “Smith’s being tall
suggests he is an athlete.” (cfr. A. G. N. Flew on the ‘rubbish’ that adding
‘the’ to ‘self’ results in – contra J. R. Jones). Philosophers have some
problems for this kind of theory with separating interpretations from each
other. It is natural for thinkers to unite the first and the fourth. The object
or entity should be the things which already exist. So the SM would attach to
such a noun as "entity" if, and only if, it also attaches to the word
"exist". Furthermore, it seems to be a good idea to unite the first
and the third. In some ways theorist can paraphrase the word "exist"
in the terms of self-identity. Grice gives an example: “Julius Caesar exists if
and only if Julius Caesar is identical for Julius Caesar.” Cf. Grice on
‘relative identity.’So the philosophers should investigate SM in two possible
interpretations – when "be" is understood as "exist" and
when "be" is understood as copula. From Aristotle's point of view
‘being’ is predicated of everything. From this statement, Grice draws the
conclusion that "exist" can apply to every thing, even a square
circle.This word should signify a plurality of universals and exhibits semantic
multiplicity. But Grice continue his analyses and tries to show, that
"exist" has not merely SM, but UNIFIED semantic multiplicity. God
forbid that he breaks M. O. R., Modifed Occam’s Razor – Semantic multiplicies
are not to be multiplied unificatory necessity.”In “Metaphysics,” Aristotle
says that whatever things are signified by the "forms of
predication". Philosophers understood the forms of predication
(praedicabilium, praedicamentum) as a category. So in this way "being"
has as many significations as there are forms of predication. "Be" in
this case indicates what a thing is, what is like or how much it is and ctr.
And no reasons to make a difference between two utterances like "man walks
(flourishes)" and "the man is walking (flourishing)" – cfr.
Strawson on no need to have ‘be’ explicitly in the surface form, which render
some utterances absurd. Grice says that it is not a problem with interpretation
of verb-forms like ‘walks' and ‘flourishes' while we can replace them by expression
in a canonical form like ‘is walking' and ‘is flourishing'. Aristotle names
them as canonical in form within the multiplicity of use of "be"
because ‘is’ is not existential, but copulative.Cf. Descartes, I think
therefore I am – I am a res cogitans, ergo I am a res. "When Aristotle
says that predicates sometimes say what a thing is, sometimes what is it like
(its quality), sometimes how much it is (its quantity) and so on, he seems to
be saying that, if we consider the range of predicates which can be applied to
some item, for example to a substance like Socrates or a cow, these predicates
are categorically various, and so the uses of the copula in the ascription of
these predicates will undergo corresponding variation" It means that, from
Aristotle's point of view, "Socrates is F" is not an essential
predication, where "F" shows the item in the category C. So the
logical form of the proposition “Socrates is F” is understood as "Socrates
has something which is (C) F" where is (C) represent essential connection to
category C. In conclusion it can be said that the copula is a matter of the
logical nature of constant connection expressed by "has" and a
categorical variant relation expressed by essential "is". So we have
both types of interpretation: as existence and as a copula. (Our gratitude to
P. A. Sobolevsky). ases of ''Unified Semantic
Multiplicity''
(USM). Prominent among examples of USM is the application of the word 'be';
according to. Aristotle, “being is said in ... Aristotle and the alleged multiplicity of being (or
something). Grice is all for focal unity. Or, to echo Jones, if there
is semantic multiplicity (homonymy), it
is in the end UNIFIED semantic multiplicity (paronymy). Or something.
corpus: Why is
Corpus so special? Find out! History of “Corpus Christi.” Cf. St. John’s. Cf.
Merton. Each should have an entry. Corpus is Grice’s alma mater – so crucial. Hardieian: you only have one tutor in your life, and Grice’s
was Hardie. So an exploration on Hardie may be in order. Grice hastens to add
that he only learned ‘form,’ not matter, from Hardie, but the ethical and
Aristotelian approach he also admitted.
cotton onto the implicature. B: If he had a more angelic temperament. Fools rushing in –
Strawson Wiggins p. 520. The angelic temperament. To like someone or something; to view someone or something
favorably. ... After we explained our plan again, the rest of the group
seemed to cotton onto it. 2. To begin to understand something.
Has nothing to do with cotton 1560s, "to
prosper, succeed;" of things, "to agree, suit, fit," a word of
uncertain origin. Perhaps from Welsh cytuno "consent,
agree;" but perhaps rather a metaphor from cloth-finishing and thus
from cotton (n.). Hensleigh Wedgwood compares cot "a fleece of wool matted
together." Meaning "become closely or intimately associated
(with)," is from 1805 via the sense of "to get along together"
(of persons), attested from c. 1600. Related: Cottoned; cottoning.
credibility: Following Jeffrey and Davidson, respectively, Grice uses
‘desirability’ and ‘probability,’ but sometimes ‘credibibility,’ realizing that
‘credibility’ is more symmetrical with ‘desirability’ than ‘probability’ is.
Urmson had explored this in “Parenthetical verbs.” Urmson co-relates,
‘certaintly’ with ‘know’ and ‘probably’ with ‘believe.’ But Urmson adds four
further adverbs: “knowingly,” “unknowingly,” “believably,” and “unbelievably.” Urmson
also includes three more: “uncredibly,” in variation with “incredibly,” and
‘credibly.” The keyword should be ‘credibility.’
creditum: used by Grice for the doxastic equivalent of the buletic
or desideratum. A creditum is an implicatum, as Grice defines the implicatum of
the content that an addresse has to assume the utterer BELIEVES to deem him
rational. The ‘creditum’-condition is essential for Grice in his ‘exhibitive’
account to the communication. By uttering “Smoke!”, U means that there is some
if the utterer intends that his addressee BELIEVE that he, the utterer, is in a
state of soul which has the propositional complex there is smoke. It is worth
noting that BELIEF is not needed for the immediate state of the utterer’s soul:
this can always be either a desire or a belief. But a belief is REQUIRED as the
immediate (if not ultimate) response intended by the utterer that his addressee
adapt. It is curious that given the primacy that Grice held of the desirability
over the credibility that many of his conversational maxims are formulated as
imperatives aimed at matters of belief, conditions and value of credibility,
probability and adequate evidence. In the cases where Grice emphasizes
‘information,’ which one would associate with ‘belief,’ this association may be
dropped provided the exhibitive account: you can always influence or be
influenced by others in the institution of a common decision provided you give
and receive the optimal information, or rather, provided the conversationalists
assume that they are engaged in a MAXIMAL exchange of information. That
‘information’ does not necessarily apply to ‘belief’ is obvious in how complicated
an order can get, “Get me a bottle”. “Is that all?” “No, get me a bottle and
make sure that it is of French wine, and add something to drink the wine with,
and drive careful, and give my love to Rosie.” No belief is explicitly
transmitted, yet the order seems informative enough. Grice sometimes does use
‘informative’ in a strict context involving credibility. He divides the mode of
credibility into informational (when addressed to others) and indicative (when
addressed to self), for in a self-addressed utterance such as, “I am being
silly,” one cannot intend to inform oneself of something one already knows!
defeasibility. Strawson Wiggins ‘somehwere in the kitchen,’ ‘in one of
the dining-room cupboards’ unless some feature of the context defeats the implication.
Cf. G. P. Baker on H. L. A. Hart. All very Oxonian. Cf. R. Hall, Oxonian, on
‘Excluders.’ For Strawson and Wiggins that a principle holds ‘generally,
ceteris paribus, is a condition for the existence of conversation, or of a good
conversation. Defeasibility is a sign of the freedom of the will. The
communicators can always opt out. Not a salivating dog. Levinson’s quote,
“Probability, Defeasibility, and Mode Operators.”
demonstratum: ‘Rationality’ is one of those words Austin forbids to use.
Grice would venture with ‘reason,’ and better, ‘reasons’ to make it countable,
and good for botanising. Only in the New World, and when he started to get
input from non-philosophers, did Grice explore ‘rationality’ itself. Oxonians
philosophers take it for granted, and do not have to philosophise about it.
Especially those who belong to Grice’s play group of ‘ordinary-language’
philosophers! Oxonian philosophers will quote from the Locke version!
Obviously, while each of the four lectures credits their own entry below, it
may do to reflect on Grices overall aim. Grice structures the lectures in the
form of a philosophical dialogue with his audience. The first lecture is
intended to provide a bit of linguistic botanising for reasonable, and
rational. In later lectures, Grice tackles reason qua noun. The remaining
lectures are meant to explore what he calls the Aequi-vocality thesis:
must has only one Fregeian that crosses what he calls the buletic-doxastic
divide. He is especially concerned ‒ this being the Kant lectures ‒
with Kants attempt to reduce the categorical imperative to a counsel of
prudence (Ratschlag der Klugheit), where Kants prudence is Klugheit, versus
skill, as in rule of skill, and even if Kant defines Klugheit as a skill to
attain what is good for oneself ‒ itself divided into privatKlugheit
and Weltklugheit. Kant re-introduces the Aristotelian idea of eudaimonia.
While a further lecture on happiness as the pursuit of a system of ends is
NOT strictly part of the either the Kant or the Locke lectures, it
relates, since eudaemonia may be regarded as the goal involved in the
relevant imperative. “Aspects”, Clarendon, Stanford, The Kant
memorial Lectures, “Aspects,” Clarendon, Some aspects of reason, Stanford;
reason, reasoning, reasons. The lectures were also delivered as the Locke
lectures. Grice is concerned with the reduction of the categorical
imperative to the hypothetical or suppositional imperative. His main
thesis he calls the æqui-vocality thesis: must has one unique or singular
sense, that crosses the buletic-boulomaic/doxastic divide. “Aspects,”
Clarendon, Grice, “Aspects, Clarendon, Locke lecture notes: reason. On
“Aspects”. Including extensive language botany on rational, reasonable, and
indeed reason (justificatory, explanatory, and mixed). At this point,
Grice notes that linguistic botany is indispensable towards the construction of
a more systematic explanatory theory. It is an exploration of a range of
uses of reason that leads him to his Aequi-vocality thesis that must has only
one sense; also ‘Aspects of reason and reasoning,’ in Grice, “Aspects,”
Clarendon, the Locke lectures, the Kant lectures, Stanford, reason,
happiness. While Locke hardly mentions reason, his friend Burthogge does,
and profusely! It was slightly ironic that Grice had delivered these
lectures as the Rationalist Kant lectures at Stanford. He was honoured to
be invited to Oxford. Officially, to be a Locke lecture you have to be
*visiting* Oxford. While Grice was a fellow of St. Johns, he was still
most welcome to give his set of lectures on reasoning at the Sub-Faculty of
Philosophy. He quotes very many authors, including Locke! In his proemium,
Grice notes that while he was rejected the Locke scholarship back in the day,
he was extremely happy to be under Lockes ægis now! When preparing for his
second lecture, he had occasion to revise some earlier drafts dated pretty
early, on reasons, Grice, “Aspects,” Clarendon, reason,
reasons. Linguistic analysis on justificatory, explanatory and mixed uses
of reason. While Grice knows that the basic use of reason is qua verb
(reasoner reasons from premise p to conclusion c), he spends some time in
exploring reason as noun. Grice found it a bit of a roundabout way to
approach rationality. However, his distinction between justificatory and
explanatory reason is built upon his linguistic botany on the use of reason qua
noun. Explanatory reason seems more basic for Grice than justificatory
reason. Explanatory reason explains the behaviour of a rational
agent. Grice is aware of Freud and his rationalizations. An agent may
invoke some reason for his acting which is not legitimate. An agent may
convince himself that he wants to move to Bournemouth because of the weather;
when in fact, his reason to move to Bournemouth is to be closer to Cowes and
join the yacht club there. Grice loved an enthymeme. Grices enthymeme. Grice,
the implicit reasoner! As the title of the lecture implies, Grice takes the
verb, to reason, as conceptually prior. A reasoner reasons, briefly, from a
premise to a conclusion. There are types of reason: flat reason and gradual
reason. He famously reports Shropshire, another tutee with Hardie, and his
proof on the immortality of the human soul. Grice makes some remarks on akrasia
as key, too. The first lecture is then dedicated to an elucidation, and indeed
attempt at a conceptual analysis in terms of intentions and doxastic conditions
reasoner R intends that premise P yields conclusion C and believes his
intention will cause his entertaining of the conclusion from his entertaining
the premise. One example of particular interest for a study of the use of
conversational reason in Grice is that of the connection between implicatum and
reasoning. Grice entitles the sub-section of the lecture as Too good to be
reasoning, which is of course a joke. Cf. too much love will kill you, and
Theres no such thing as too much of a good thing (Shakespeare, As you like it).
Grice notes: I have so far been considering difficulties which may arise from
the attempt to find, for all cases of actual reasoning, reconstructions of
sequences of utterances or explicit thoughts which the reasoner might plausibly
be supposed to think of as conforming to some set of canonical patterns of
inference. Grice then turns to a different class of examples, with regard to
which the problem is not that it is difficult to know how to connect them with
canonical patterns, but rather that it is only too easy (or shall I say
trivial) to make the connection. Like some children (not many), some cases of
reasoning are too well behaved for their own good. Suppose someone says to
Grice, and It is very interesting that Grice gives conversational examples.
Jack has arrived, Grice replies, I conclude from that that Jack has arrived. Or
he says Jack has arrived AND Jill has *also* arrived, And Grice replies, I
conclude that Jill has arrived.(via Gentzens conjunction-elimination). Or he
says, My wife is at home. And Grice replies, I reason from that that someone
(viz. your wife) is at home. Is there not something very strange about the
presence in my three replies of the verb conclude (in example I and II) and the
verb reason (in the third example)? misleading, but doxastically fine,
professor! It is true, of course, that if instead of my first reply I had said
(vii) vii. So Jack has arrived, has he? the strangeness would have been
removed. But here so serves not to indicate that an inference is being made,
but rather as part of a not that otiose way of expressing surprise. One might
just as well have said (viii). viii. Well, fancy that! Now, having spent a
sizeable part of his life exploiting it, Grice is not unaware of the truly fine
distinction between a statements being false (or axiologically satisfactory),
and its being true (or axiologically satisfactory) but otherwise conversationally
or pragmatically misleading or inappropriate or pointless, and, on that account
and by such a fine distinction, a statement, or an utterance, or conversational
move which it would be improper (in terms of the reasonable/rational principle
of conversational helfpulness) in one way or another, to make. It is worth
considering Grices reaction to his own distinction. Entailment is in sight! But
Grice does not find himself lured by the idea of using that distinction here!
Because Moores entailment, rather than Grices implicatum is entailed. Or
because explicatu, rather than implicatum is involved. Suppose, again, that I
were to break off the chapter at this point, and switch suddenly to this
argument. ix. I have two hands (here is one hand and here is another). If had
three more hands, I would have five. If I were to have double that number I
would have ten, and if four of them were removed six would remain. So I would
have four more hands than I have now. Is one happy to describe this performance
as reasoning? Depends whos one and whats happy!? There is, however, little
doubt that I have produced a canonically acceptable chain of statements. So
surely that is reasoning, if only conversationally misleadingly called so. Or
suppose that, instead of writing in my customary free and easy style, I had
framed my remarks (or at least the argumentative portions of my remarks) as a
verbal realization, so to speak, of sequences of steps in strict conformity
with the rules of a natural-deduction system of first-order predicate logic. I
give, that is to say, an updated analogue of a medieval disputation.
Implicature. Gentzen is Ockham. Would those brave souls who continued to read
be likely to think of my performance as the production of reasoning, or would
they rather think of it as a crazy formalisation of reasoning conducted at some
previous time? Depends on crazy or formalisation. One is reminded of Grice
telling Strawson, If you cannot formalise, dont say it; Strawson: Oh, no! If I
can formalise it, I shant say it! The points suggested by this stream of
rhetorical questions may be summarized as follows. Whether the samples
presented FAIL to achieve the title of reasoning, and thus be deemed reasoning,
or whether the samples achieve the title, as we may figuratively put it, by the
skin of their teeth, perhaps does not very greatly matter. For whichever way it
is, the samples seem to offend against something (different things in different
cases, Im sure) very central to our conception of reasoning. So central that Moore
would call it entailment! A mechanical application of a ground rule of
inference, or a concatenation thereof, is reluctantly (if at all) called
reasoning. Such a mechanical application may perhaps legitimately enter into
(i.e. form individual steps in) authentic reasonings, but they are not
themselves reasonings, nor is a string of them. There is a demand that a
reasoner should be, to a greater or lesser degree, the author of his
reasonings. Parroted sequences are not reasonings when parroted, though the
very same sequences might be reasoning if not parroted. Ped sequences are
another matter. Some of the examples Grice gives are deficient because they are
aimless or pointless. Reasoning is characteristically addressed to this or that
problem: a small problem, a large problem, a problem within a problem, a clear
problem, a hazy problem, a practical problem, an intellectual problem; but a
problem! A mere flow of ideas minimally qualifies (or can be deemed) as
reasoning, even if it happens to be logically respectable. But if it is
directed, or even monitored (with intervention should it go astray, not only
into fallacy or mistake, but also into such things as conversational
irrelevance or otiosity!), that is another matter! Finicky over-elaboration of
intervening steps is frowned upon, and in extreme cases runs the risk of
forfeiting the title of reasoning. In conversation, such over-elaboration will
offend against this or that conversational maxim, against (presumably) some
suitably formulated maxim conjoining informativeness. As Grice noted with
regard to ‘That pillar box seems red to me.’ That would be baffling if the
addressee fails to detect the communication-point. An utterance is supposed to
inform, and what is the above meant to inform its addressee? In thought, it
will be branded as pedantry or neurotic caution. If a distinction between
brooding and conversing is to be made! At first sight, perhaps, one would have
been inclined to say that greater rather than lesser explicitnessness is a
merit. Not that inexplicitness, or implicatum-status, as it were ‒ is bad, but
that, other things being equal, the more explicitness the better. But now it
looks as if proper explicitness (or explicatum-status) is an Aristotelian mean,
or mesotes, and it would be good some time to enquire what determines where
that mean lies. The burden of the foregoing observations seems to me to be that
the provisional account of reasoning, which has been before us, leaves out
something which is crucially important. What it leaves out is the conception of
reasoning, as I like to see conversation, as a purposive activity, as something
with goals and purposes. The account or picture leaves out, in short, the
connection of reasoning with the will! Moreover, once we avail ourselves of the
great family of additional ideas which the importation of this conception would
give us, we shall be able to deal with the quandary which I laid before you a
few minutes ago. For we could say e.g. that R reasons (informally) from p to c
just in case R thinks that p and intends that, in thinking c, he should be
thinking something which would be the conclusion of a formally valid argument
the premisses of which are a supplementation of p. This will differ from merely
thinking that there exists some formally valid supplementation of a transition
from p to c, which I felt inclined NOT to count as (or deem) reasoning. I have
some hopes that this appeal to the purposiveness or goal-oriented character of
authentic reasoning or good reasoning might be sufficient to dispose of the
quandary on which I have directed it. But I am by no means entirely confident
that this is the case, and so I offer a second possible method of handling the
quandary, one to which I shall return later when I shall attempt to place it in
a larger context. We have available to us (let us suppose) what I might call a
hard way of making inferential moves. We in fact employ this laborious,
step-by-step procedure at least when we are in difficulties, when the course is
not clear, when we have an awkward (or philosophical) audience, and so forth.
An inferential judgement, however, is a normally desirable undertaking for us
only because of its actual or hoped for destinations, and is therefore not
desirable for its own sake (a respect in which, possibly, it may differ from an
inferential capacity). Following the hard way consumes time and energy. These
are in limited supply and it would, therefore, be desirable if occasions for
employing the hard way were minimized. A substitute for the hard way, the quick
way, which is made possible by habituation and intention, is available to us,
and the capacity for it (which is sometimes called intelligence, and is known
to be variable in degree) is a desirable quality. The possibility of making a
good inferential step (there being one to be made), together with such items as
a particular inferers reputation for inferential ability, may determine whether
on a particular occasion we suppose a particular transition to be inferential
(and so to be a case of reasoning) or not. On this account, it is not essential
that there should be a single supplementation of an informal reasoning which is
supposed to be what is overtly in the inferers mind, though quite often there
may be special reasons for supposing this to be the case. So Botvinnik is
properly credited with a case of reasoning, while Shropshire is not. Drawing
from his recollections of an earlier linguistic botany on reason. Grice
distinguishes between justificatory reason and explanatory reason. There is a
special case of mixed reason, explanatory-cum-justificatory. The lecture can be
seen as the way an exercise that Austin took as taxonomic can lead to
explanatory adequacy, too! Bennett is an excellent correspondent. He holds a
very interesting philosophical correspondence with Hare. This is just one f.
with Grices correspondence with Bennett. Oxford don, Christchurh, NZ-born
Bennett, of Magdalen, B. Phil. Oxon. Bennett has an essay on the interpretation
of a formal system under Austin. It is interesting that Bennett was led to
consider the interpretation of a formal system under Austins Play Group.
Bennett attends Grices seminars. He is my favourite philosopher. Bennett quotes
Grice in his Linguistic behaviour. In return, Grice quotes Bennett in the
Preface toWOW. Bennett has an earlier essay on rationality, which
evidences that the topic is key at Grices Oxford. Bennett has studied better
than anyone the way Locke is Griceian. A word or expression does not just stand
for idea, but for the intention of the utterer to stand for it! Grice also
enjoyed construal by Bennett of Grice as a nominalist. Bennett makes a narrow
use of the epithet. Since Grice does distinguish between an utterance-token (x)
and an utterance-type, and considers that the attribution of meaning from token
to type is metabolic, this makes Grice a nominalist. Bennett is one of the few
to follow Kantotle and make him popular on the pages of the Times Literary
Supplement, of all places. Refs.: The locus classicus is “Aspects,” Clarendon.
But there are allusions on ‘reason’ and ‘rationality, in The H. P. Grice
Papers, BANC.
desideratum: Grice makes a double use of this. It should be thus two
entries. There’s the conversational desideratum, where a desideratum is like a
maxim or an imperative – and then there are two specific desiderata: the
desideratum of conversational clarity, and the desideratum of conversational
candour. Grice was never sure what adjective to use for the ‘desiderative.’ He
liked buletic. He liked desideratum because it has the co-relate
‘consideratum,’ for belief. He uses
‘deriderative’ and a few more! Of course what he means is a sub-psychological
modality, or rather a ‘soul.’ So he would apply it ‘primarily’ to the soul, as
Plato and Aristotle does. The ‘psyche’, or ‘anima’ is what is ‘desiderativa.’
The Grecians are pretty confused about this (but ‘boulemaic’ and ‘buletic’ are
used), and the Romans didn’t help. Grice is concerned with a
rational-desiderative, that takes a “that”-clause (or oratio obliqua), and qua
constructivist, he is also concerned with a pre-rational desiderative (he has
an essay on “Needs and Wants,” and his detailed example in “Method” is a
squarrel (sic) who needs a nut. On top, while Grice suggest s that it goes both
ways: the doxastic can be given a reductive analaysis in terms of the buletic,
and the buletic in terms of the doxastic, he only cares to provide the former.
Basically, an agent judges that p, if his willing that p correlates to a state
of affairs that satisfies his desires. Since he does not provide a reductive
analysis for Prichard’s willing-that, one is left wondering. Grice’s position
is that ‘willing that…’ attains its ‘sense’ via the specification, as a
theoretical concept, in some law in the folk-science that agents use to explain
their behaviour. Grice gets subtler when he deals with mode-markers for the
desiderative: for these are either utterer-oriented, or addressee-oriented, and
they may involve a buletic attitude itself, or a doxastic attitude. When
utterer-addressed, utterer wills that utterer wills that p. There is no closure
here, and indeed, a regressus ad infinitum is what Grice wants, since this
regressus allows him to get univeersabilisability, in terms of conceptual,
formal, and applicational kinds of generality. In this he is being Kantian, and
Hareian. While Grice praises Kantotle, Aristotle here would stay unashamedly
‘teleological,’ and giving priority to a will that may not be universalisable,
since it’s the communitarian ‘good’ that matters. what does Grice have to say
about our conversational practice? L and S have “πρᾶξις,” from “πράσσω,” and
which they render as ‘moral action,’ oποίησις, τέχνη;” “oποιότης,” “ἤθη καὶ
πάθη καὶ π.,” “oοἱ πολιτικοὶ λόγοι;” “ἔργῳ καὶ πράξεσιν, οὐχὶ λόγοις” Id.6.3;
ἐν ταῖς πράξεσι ὄντα τε καὶ πραττόμενα, “exhibited in actual life,” action in
drama, “oλόγος; “μία π. ὅλη καὶ τελεία.” With practical Grice means buletic.
Praxis involves acting, and surely Grice presupposes acting. By uttering, i. e.
by the act of uttering, expression x, U m-intends that p. Grice occasionally
refers to action and behaviour as the thing which an ascription of a
psychological state explains. Grice prefers the idiom of soul. Theres the
ratiocinative soul. Within the ratiocinative, theres the executive soul and the
merely administrative soul. Cicero had to translate Aristotle into prudentia,
every time Aristotle talked of phronesis. Grice was aware that the
terminology by Kant can be confusing. Kant used ‘pure’ reason for reason in the
doxastic realm. The critique by Kant of practical reason is hardly
symmetrical to his critique of doxastic reason. Grice, with his
æqui-vocality thesis of must (must crosses the buletic-boulomaic/doxastic
divide), Grice is being more of a symmetricalist. The buletic, boulomaic, or
volitive, is a part of the soul, as is the doxatic or judicative. And
judicative is a trick because there is such a thing as a value judgement, or an
evaluative judgement, which is hardly doxastic. Grice plays with two
co-relative operators: desirability versus probability. Grice invokes the
exhibitive/protreptic distinction he had introduced in the fifth James lecture,
now applied to psychological attitudes themselves. This Grice’s attempt is to
tackle the Kantian problem in the Grundlegung: how to derive the categorical
imperative from a counsel of prudence. Under the assumption that the protasis
is Let the agent be happy, Grice does not find it obtuse at all to construct a
universalisable imperative out of a mere motive-based counsel of prudence.
Grice has an earlier paper on pleasure which relates. The derivation involves
seven steps. Grice proposes seven steps in the derivation. 1. It is a
fundamental law of psychology that, ceteris paribus, for any creature R, for
any P and Q, if R wills P Λ judges if P, P as a result of Q, R wills
Q. 2. Place this law within the scope of a "willing" operator: R
wills for any P Λ Q, if R wills P Λ judges that if P, P as
a result of Q, R wills Q. 3. wills turns to should. If rational, R will have to
block unsatisfactory (literally) attitudes. R should (qua rational) judge for
any P Λ Q, if it is satisfactory to will that P Λ it is
satisfactory to judge that if P, P as a result of Q, it is sastisfactory to
will that Q. 4. Marking the mode: R should (qua rational) judge for any
P Λ Q, if it is satisfactory that !P Λ that if it .P, .P
only as a result of Q, it is satisfactory that !Q. 5. via (p & q
-> r) -> (p -> (q -> r)): R should (qua rational)
judge for any P Λ Q, if it is satisfactory that if .P, .P only
because Q, i is satisfactory that, if let it be that P, let it be that Q. 6. R
should (qua rational) judge for any P Λ Q, if P, P only because p
yields if let it be that P, let it be that Q. 7. For any P Λ Q if P,
P only because Q yields if let it be that P, let it be that Q. Grice was
well aware that a philosopher, at Oxford, needs to be a philosophical
psychologist. So, wanting and needing have to be related to willing. A plant
needs water. A floor needs sweeping. So need is too broad. So is want, a
non-Anglo-Saxon root for God knows what. With willing things get closer to the
rational soul. There is willing in the animal soul. But when it comes to
rational willing, there must be, to echo Pritchard, a conjecture, some doxastic
element. You cannot will to fly, or will that the distant chair slides over the
floor toward you. So not all wants and needs are rational willings, but then
nobody said they would. Grice is interested in emotion in his power structure
of the soul. A need and a want may count as an emotion. Grice was never too
interested in needing and wanting because they do not take a that-clause. He
congratulates Urmson for having introduced him to the brilliant willing that …
by Prichard. Why is it, Grice wonders, that many ascriptions of buletic states
take to-clause, rather than a that-clause? Even mean, as ‘intend.’ In this
Grice is quite different from Austin, who avoids the that-clause. The
explanation by Austin is very obscure, like those of all grammars on the
that’-clause, the ‘that’ of ‘oratio obliqua’ is not in every way similar to the
‘that’-clause in an explicit performative formula. Here the utterer is not
reporting his own ‘oratio’ in the first person singular present indicative
active. Incidentally, of course, it is not in the least necessary that an explicit
performative verb should be followed by a ‘that’-clause. In important classes
of cases it is followed by ‘to . . .,’ or by or nothing, e. g. ‘I apologize
for…,’ ‘I salute you.’ Now many of these verbs appear to be quite satisfactory
pure performatives. Irritating though it is to have them as such, linked with
clauses that look like statements, true or false, e. g., when I say ‘I prophesy
that …,’ ‘I concede that …’, ‘I
postulate that …,’ the clause following normally looks just like a statement,
but the verb itself seems to be pure performatives. One may
distinguish the performative opening part, ‘I state that …,’ which makes clear
how the utterance is to be taken, that it is a statement, as distinct from a
prediction, etc.), from the bit in the that-clause which is required to be true
or false. However, there are many cases which, as language stands at present,
we are not able to split into two parts in this way, even though the utterance
seems to have a sort of explicit performative in it. Thus, ‘I liken x to y,’ or
‘I analyse x as y.’ Here we both do the likening and assert that there is a
likeness by means of one compendious phrase of at least a quasi-performative
character. Just to spur us on our way, we may also mention ‘I know that …’, ‘I
believe that …’, etc. How complicated are these examples? We cannot assume that
they are purely descriptive, which has Grice talking of the pseudo-descriptive.
Want etymologically means absence; need should be preferred. The squarrel
(squirrel) Toby needs intake of nuts, and youll soon see gobbling them! There
is not much philosophical bibliography on these two psychological states Grice
is analysing. Their logic is interesting. Smith wants to play
cricket. Smith needs to play cricket. Grice is concerned with the
propositional content attached to the want and need predicate. Wants that
sounds harsh; so does need that. Still, there are propositional attached
to the pair above. Smith plays cricket. Grice took a very cavalier
attitude to what linguists spend their lives analysing. He thought it was
surely not the job of the philosopher, especially from a prestigious university
such as Oxford, to deal with the arbitrariness of grammatical knots attached to
this or that English verb. He rarely used English, but stuck with ordinary
language. Surely, he saw himself in the tradition of Kantotle, and so,
aiming at grand philosophical truths: not conventions of usage, even his
own! 1. Squarrel Toby has a nut, N, in front of him. 2. Toby is short on
squarrel food (observed or assumed), so, 3. Toby wills squarrel food (by
postulate of Folk Pyschological Theory θ connecting willing with
intake of N). 4. Toby prehends a nut as in front (from (1) by Postulate of Folk
Psychological Theory θ, if it is assumed that nut and in front are
familiar to Toby). 5. Toby joins squarrel food with gobbling, nut, and in front
(i.e. Toby judges gobbling, on nut in front, for squarrel food (by Postulate of
Folk Psychological Theory θ with the aid of prior observation. So,
from 3, 4 and 5, 6. Tobby gobbles; and since a nut is in front of him, gobbles
the nut in front of him. The system of values of the society to which the agent
belongs forms the external standard for judging the relative importance of the
commitments by the agent. There are three dimensions of value: universally
human, cultural that vary with societies and times; and personal that vary with
individuals. Each dimension has a standard for judging the adequacy of the
relevant values. Human values are adequate if they satisfy basic needs;
cultural values are adequate if they provide a system of values that sustains
the allegiance of the inhabitants of a society; and personal values are
adequate if the conceptions of well‐being
formed out of them enable individuals to live satisfying lives. These values
conflict and our well‐being requires some way of settling their conflicts, but
there is no universal principle for settling the conflicts; it can only be done
by attending to the concrete features of particular conflicts. These features
vary with circumstances and values. Grice reads Porter.The idea of the value
chain is based on the process view of organizations, the idea of seeing a
manufacturing (or service) organization as a system, made up of subsystems each
with inputs, transformation processes and outputs. Inputs, transformation
processes, and outputs involve the acquisition and consumption of resources –
money, labour, materials, equipment, buildings, land, administration and
management. How value chain activities are carried out determines costs and
affects profits.In his choice of value system and value sub-system, Grice is
defending objectivity, since it is usually the axiological relativist who uses
such a pretentious phrasing! More than a value may co-ordinate in a system. One
such is eudæmonia (cf. system of ends). The problem for Kant is the reduction
of the categorical imperative to the hypothetical or
suppositional imperative. For Kant, a value tends towards the
Subjectsive. Grice, rather, wants to offer a metaphysical defence of objective
value. Grice called the manual of conversational maxims the Conversational
Immanuel. The keyword to search the H. P. Grice is ‘will,’ and ‘volitional,’
even ‘ill-will,’ (“Metaphysics and ill-will,” s. V, c. 7-f. 28) and
‘benevolence’ (vide below under ‘conversational benevolence”). Also
‘desirability’: “Modality, desirability, and probability,” s. V, c. 8-ff.
14-15, and the conference lecture in a different series, “Probability,
desirability, and mood operators,” s. II, c. 2-f.11). Grice makes systematic use of ‘practical’ to
contrast with the ‘alethic,’ too (“Practical reason,” s. V, c. 9-f.1), The H.
P. Grice Papers, BANC.
desideratum of conversational candour: tThis includes the maximin. It should be noted that
candour is DESIRABLE. There is a desirability for candour. Candour is not a
given. Ditto for clarity. See conversational desideratum, simpliciter. A
rational desideratum is a desideratum by a rational agent and which he expects
from another rational agent. One should make the strongest move, and on the
other hand try not to mislead.Grice's Oxford
"Conversation" Lectures, 1966Grice: Between Self-Love and Benevolence
As I was saying (somewhere), Grice uses
"self-love", charmingly qualified
with capitals, as "Conversational Self-Love", and, less
charmingly, "Conversational
Benevolence", in lectures advertised at Oxford, as "Logic and Conversation" that he gave at Oxford in
1964 as "University Lecturer in
Philosophy". He also gave seminars on "Conversational
helpfulness." A number of the lectures by Grice include discussion of
thetypes of behaviour people in general exhibit, and thereforethe types of
expectations[cfr. owings]they might bring to a venture such as a
conversation.Grice suggests that people in general both exhibitand EXPECT a
certain degree of helpfulness [-- alla Rosenschein, epistemic/boulemaic:If A
cognizes that B wills p, then A wills p.]
"from OTHERS" [-- reciprocal vs. reflexive, etc.] usually on
the understanding that such helpfulness does NOT get in the way of particular
goals and does not involve undue effort cf. least effort? - cfr. Hobbes on self-love.
It two people, even complete strangers,are going through a gate, the
expectation isthat the FIRST ONE through will hold thegate open, or at least
leave it open, for thesecond. The expectation is such that todo OTHERWISE
without particular reasonwould be interpreted as RUDE. The type of helpfulness
exhibited andexpected in conversation is more specificbecause of a particular,
although not a unique feature of conversation.It is a COLLABORATIVE venture
betweenthe participants.There is a SHARED aimGrice wonders. His words, Does "helpfulness in something WE ARE
DOING TOGETHER” equate to 'cooperation'?He seems to have decided that it
does. By the later lectures in the series, 'the principle of conversational
helpfulness'has been rebranded the expectation of 'cooperation.' During the
Oxford lectures, Grice develops his account of the precise nature of this
cooperation. It can be seen as governed by certain regularities, or principles,
detailing expected behaviour. The expression'maxim' to describe these
regularities appears relatively late in the lectures.Grice's INITIAL choices of
terms are 'objectives' and 'desiderata'.He was particularly fond of the latter.
He was interested in detailing the desirable forms of behaviour for the purpose
of achieving a joint goal of the conversation. Initially, Grice posits TWO such
desiderata. Those relating to candour on the one hand and clarity on the other.
The desideratum of candour contains his general PRINCIPLE of making the
strongest (MAX) possible statement and, as a LIMITING (MAX) factor on this, the
suggestion that speakers should try not to mislead. (Do not mislead). cfr.
our"We are brothers"-- but not mutual."We are married to each
other". "You _are_ a boor".----The desideratum of conversational
clarity concerns the manner of expression. [His later reference to Modus or
Mode as used by Kant as one of the four
categories] for any conversational contribution. It includes the IMPORTANT
expectations of relevance to understanding and also insists that the main
import of an utterance be clear and explicit. (“Explicate!”) These two factors
are constantly to be WEIGHED against two
FUNDAMENTAL and SOMETIMES COMPETING DEMANDS. Contributions to a conversation
are aimed towards the agreed current purposes by the PRINCIPLE of Conversational
Benevolence. The principle of CONVERSATIONAL SELF-LOVE ensures the assumption
on the part of both participants that neither will go to unnecessary trouble
[LEAST EFFORT] in framing their contribution. This has been a topic of interest
to Noh end. In "Conversational Immanuel" Grice tries different ways
of making sense -- it is very easy to do so -- of Grice's distinctions that go
over the head of some linguists I know! Reasonable versus rational for example.
A Rawlsian distinction of sorts. Rational is too weak. We need 'reasonable'.
So, what sort of reasonableness is that which results from this harmonious, we
hope, clash of self-love and benevolence? Grice tried, wittily, to extend the
purposes of conversation to involve MUTUALLY INFLUENCING EACH OTHER -- a
reciprocal. (WoW, ii). And there's a mythical reconstruction of this in his
"Meaning Revisited" which he contributed to this symposium organised
by N. Smith on Mutua knowledge. But issues remains, we hope. The concept
of ‘candour’is especially basic for Grice since it is constitutive of what it
means to identify the ‘significatum.’ As he notes, ‘false’ information is no
information. This is serious, because it has to do with the acceptum. A
contribution which is not trustworthy is not deemed a contribution. It is
conceptually impossible to intend to PROVIDE information if you are aware that
you are not being trustworthy and not conveying it. As for the degree of
explicitness, as Grice puts it. Since in communication in a certain fashion all
must be public, if an idea or thesis is heavily obscured, it can no longer be
regarded as having been propounded. This gives acceptum justification to the
correlative desideratum of conversational clarity. On top, if there is a level
of obscurity, the thing is not deemed to have been a communicatum or
significatum. It is all about confidence, you know. U expects A will find him
confident. Thus we find in Short and Lewis, “confīdo,” wich they render as
“to trust confidently in something,” and also, “confide in, rely firmly upon,
to believe, be assured of,” as an enhancing of “sperare,” in Cicero’s Att. 6,
9, 1. Trust and rationality are pre-requisites of conversation. Urmson develops
this. They phrase in Urmson is "implied claim." Whenever U makes a
conversational contribution in a standard context, there is an implied claim to
U being trustworthy and reasonable. What do Grice and Urmson mean by an
"implied claim"? It is obvious enough, but they both love to expand.
Whenever U utters an expression which can be used to convey truth or falsehood
there is an implied claim to trustworthiness by U, unless the situation shows
that this is not so. U may be acting or reciting or incredulously echoing the
remark of another, or flouting the expectation. This, Grice and Urmson think,
may need an explanation. Suppose that U utters, in an ordinary
circumstance, ‘It will rain tomorrow,’ or ‘It rained yesterday,’ or ‘It is
raining.’ This act carries with it the claim that U should be trusted and
licenses A to believe that it will rain tomorrow. By this is meant that
just as it is understood that no U will give an order unless he is entitled to
give orders, so it is understood that no U will utter a sentence of a kind
which can be used to make a statement unless U is willing to claim that that
statement is true, and hence one would be acting in a misleading manner if one
uttered the sentence if he was not willing to make that claim. Here, the predicate
“implies that …,” Grice, Grant, Moore, Nowell-Smith, and Urmson hasten to add,
is being used in such a way that, if there is a an expectation that a thing is
done in Circumstance C, U implies that C holds if he does the thing. The point
is often made if not always in the terms Grice uses, and it is, Urmson and
Grice believe, in substance uncontroversial. Grice and Urmson wish to make the
point that, when an utterer U deploys a hedge with an indicative sentence,
there is not merely an implied claim that the whole statement is true but also
that is true. The implied or expressed claim by the utterer to
trustworthiness need not be very strong. The whole point of a hedge is to
modify or weaken (if not, as Grice would have it, flout) the claim by U to full
trustworthiness which would be implied by the unhedged assertion. But
even if U utters “He is, I suppose, at home;” or “I guess that the penny
will come down heads," U expresses, or for Urmson plainly implies,
with however little reason, that this is what U accepts as worth the trust by
A. Now Grice and Urmson meet an objection which is made by some philosophers to
this comparison. Grice and Urmson intend to meet the objection by a fairly
detailed examination of the example which they themselves would most likely
choose. In doing this Grice and Urmson further explain the use of a
parenthetical verb. The adverb is "probably" and the verb is “I
believe.” To say, that something is probable, the imaginary objector will say,
is to imply that it is reasonable to believe, that the evidence justifies a
guarded claim for the trust or trustworthiness of U and the truth of the
statement. But to say that someone else, a third person, believes something
does not imply that it is reasonable for U or A to believe it, nor that the
evidence justifies the guarded or implied claim to factivity or truth which U
makes. Therefore, the objector continues, the difference between the use
of “I believe” and “probably” is not, as Grice and Urmson suggest, merely one
of nuance and degree of impersonality. In one case, “probably,” reasonableness
is implied; in the other, “believe,” it is not. This objection is met by Grice
and Urmson. They do so by making a general point. To use the
rational-reasonable distinction in “Conversational implicature” and “Aspects,”
there is an implied claim by U to reasonableness. Further to an implied
claim to trust whenever a sentence is uttered in a standard context, now Grice
and Urmson add, to meet the sceptical objection about the contrast between “probably”
and “I believe” that, whenever U makes a statement in a standard context there
is an implied claim to reasonableness. This contention must be explained alla
Kant. Cf. Strawson on the presumption of conversational relevance, and
Austin, Moore, Nowell-Smith, Grant, and Warnock. To use Hart’s
defeasibility, and Hall’s excluder, unless U is acting or story-telling, or
preface his remarks with some such phrase as “I know Im being silly, but
…” or, “I admit it is unreasonable, but …” it is, Grice and Urmson
think, a presupposition or expectation of communication or conversation that a
communicator will not make a statement, thereby implying this trust, unless he
has some ground, however tenuous, for the statement. To utter “The
King is visiting Oxford tomorrow,” or “The President of the BA has a corkscrew
in his pocket,” and then, when asked why the utterer is uttering that, to
answer “Oh, for no reason at all,” would be to sin, theologically, against
the basic conventions governing the use of discourse. Grice goes on to provide
a Kantian justification for that, hence his amusing talk of maxims and
stuff. Therefore, Urmson and Grice think there is an implied or expressed
claim to reasonableness which goes with all our statements, i.e. there
is a mutual expectation that a communicator will not make a statement unless he
is prepared to claim and defend its reasonablenesss. Cf. Grice’s desideratum of
conversational candour, subsumed under the over-arching principle of
conversational helpfulness (formerly conversational
benevolence-cum-self-love). Grice thinks that the principle of
conversational benevolence has to be weighed against the principle of
conversational self-love. The result is the overarching principle of
conversational helpfulness. Clarity gets in the picture. The desideratum of
conversational clarity is a reasonable requirement for conversants to abide
by. Grice follows some observations by Warnock. The logical grammar
of “trust,” “candour,” “charity,” “sincerity,” “decency,” “honesty,” is subtle,
especially when we are considering the two sub-goals of conversation: giving
and receiving information/influencing and being influenced by others. In both
sub-goals, trust is paramount. The explorations of trust has become an Oxonian
hobby, with authors not such like Warnock, but Williams, and
others. Grice’s essay is entitled, “Trust, metaphysics, value.” Trust as a
corollary of the principle of conversational helpfulness. In a given
conversational setting, assuming the principle of conversational helpfulness is
operating, U is assumed by A to be trustworthy and candid. There are two
modes of trust, which relate to the buletic sub-goal and the doxastic sub-goal
which Grice assumes the principle of conversational helpfulness captures:
giving and receiving information, and influencing and being influenced by
others. In both sub-goals, trust is key. In the doxastic realm, trust
has to do, not so much or only, with truth (with which the expression is
cognate), or satisfactoriness-value, but evidence and probability. In the
buletic realm, there are the dimensions of satisfactoriness-value (‘good’
versus ‘true’), and ‘ground’ versus evidence, which becomes less crucial. But
note that one is trustworthy regarding BOTH the buletic attitude and the
doxastic attitude. Grice mentions this or that buletic attitudes which is not
usually judged in terms of evidential support (“I vow to thee my country.”)
However, in the buletic realm, U is be assumed as trustworthy if U has the
buletic attitude he is expressing. The cheater, the insincere, the dishonest,
the untrustworthy, for Grice is not irrational, just repugnant. How immoral is
the idea that honesty is the best policy? Is Kant right in thinking there is no
right to refrain from trust? Surely it is indecent. For Kant, there is no
motivation or ‘motive,’ pure or impure, behind telling the truth – it’s just a
right, and an obligation – an imperative. Being trustworthy for Kant is
associated with a pure motive. Grice agrees. Decency comes into the picture. An
indecent agent may still be rational, but in such a case, conversation may
still be seen as rational (if not reasonable) and surely not be seen as
rational helpfulness or co-operation, but rational adversarial competition,
rather, a zero-sum game. Grice found the etymology of ‘decent’ too obscure.
Short and Lewis have “dĕcet,” which they deem cognate with Sanscrit “dacas,”
‘fame,’ and Grecian “δοκέω,‘to seem,’ ‘to think,’ and with Latin ‘decus,’
‘dingus.’ As an impersonal verb, Short and Lewis render it as ‘it is seemly,
comely, becoming,; it beseems, behooves, is fitting, suitable, proper (for syn.
v. debeo init.): decere quasi aptum esse consentaneumque tempori et personae,
Cic. Or. 22, 74; cf. also nunc quid aptum sit, hoc est, quid maxime deceat in
oratione videamus, id. de Or. 3, 55, 210 (very freq. and class.; not in
Caesar). Grice’s idea of decency is connected to his explorations on rational
and reasonable. To cheat may be neither unreasonable nor rational. It is
just repulsive. Indecent, in other words. In all this, Grice is concerned
with ordinary language, and treasures Austin questioning Warnock, when Warnock
was pursuing a fellowship at Magdalen. “What would you say the difference is
between ‘Smith plays cricket rather properly’ and ‘Smith plays cricket rather
incorrectly’?” They spent the whole dinner over the subtlety. By desserts,
Warnock was in love with Austin. Cf. Grice on his prim and proper Aunt
Matilda. The exploration by Grice on trust is Warnockian in character, or vice
versa. In “Object of morality,” Warnock has trust as key, as indeed, the very
object of morality. Grice starts to focus on trust in an Oxford seminars on the
implicatum. If there is a desideratum of conversational candour, and the goal
of the principle of conversational helpfulness is that of giving and receiving
information, and influencing and being influenced by others, ‘false’
‘information’ is just no information – Since exhibiteness trumps protrepsis,
this applies to the buletic, too. Grice loved that Latin dictum, “tuus candor.”
He makes an early defence of this in his fatal objection to Malcolm. A
philosopher cannot intentionally instill a falsehood in his tutee, such as
“Decapitation willed the death of Charles I” (the alleged paraphrase of the
paradoxical philosopher saying that ‘causing’ is ‘willing’ and rephrasing
“Decapitation was the cause of the death of Charles I.” There is, for both
Grice and Apel, a transcendental (if weak) justification, not just utilitarian
(honesty as the best policy), as Stalnaker notes in his contribution to the
Grice symposium for APA. Unlike Apel, the transcendental argument is a weak one
in that Grice aims to show that conversation that did not abide by trust would
be unreasonable, but surely still ‘possible.’ It is not a transcendental
justification for the ‘existence’ of conversation simpliciter, but for the
existence of ‘reasonable,’ decent conversation. If we approach charity in the
first person, we trust ourselves that some of our beliefs have to be true, and
that some of our desires have to be satisfactory valid, and we are equally
trusted by our conversational partners. This is Grice’s conversational golden
rule. What would otherwise be the point of holding that conversation is
rational co-operation? What would be the point of conversation simpliciter?
Urmson follows Austin, so Austin’s considerations on this, notably in “Other
minds,” deserve careful examination. Urmson was of course a member of Grice’s
play group, and these are the philosophers that we consider top priority.
Another one was P. H. Nowell-Smith. At least two of his three rules deserve
careful examination. Nowell-Smith notes that this or that ‘rule’ of contextual
implication is not meant to be taken as a ‘rigid rule’. Unlike this or that
rule of entailment, a conversational rule can be broken without the utterer
being involved in self-contradiction or absurdity. When U uses an expression to
make a statement, it is contextually implied that he believes it to be true.
Similarly, when he uses it to perform any of the other jobs for which sentences
are used, it is contextually implied that he is using it for one of the jobs
that it normally does. This rule is often in fact broken. Anti-Kantian lying,
Bernhard-type play-acting, Andersen-type story-telling, and Wildeian irony is
each a case in which U breaks the rule, or flouts the expectation, either
overtly or covertly. But each of these four cases is a secondary use, i.e. a
use to which an expression cannot logically or conceptually be put unless, as
Hart would have it, it has a primary use. There is no limit to the possible
uses to which an expression may be put. In many cases a man makes his point by
deliberately using an expression in a queer way or even using it in the ‘sense’
opposite to its unique normal one, as in irony (“He is a fine friend,” implying
that he is a scoundrel). The distinction between a primary and a secondary use
is important because many an argument used by a philosopher consists in
pointing out some typical example of the way in which some expression E is used.
Such an argument is always illegitimate if the example employed is an example
of a secondary use, however common such a use may be. U contextually implies
that he has what he himself believes to be good reasons for his statement. Once
again, we often break this rule and we have special devices for indicating when
we are breaking it. Phrases such as ‘speaking offhand …,’ 'I do not really know
but …,’ and ‘I should be inclined to say that …,’ are used by scrupulous
persons to warn his addressee that U has not got what seem to him good reasons
for his statement. But unless one of these guarding phrases is used we are
entitled to believe that U believes himself to have good reasons for his
statement and we soon learn to *mistrust* people who habitually infringe this
rule. It is, of course, a mistake to infer from what someone says categorically
that he has in fact good reasons for what he says. If I tell you, or ‘inform’
to you, that the duck-billed platypus is a bird (because I ' remember ' reading
this in a book) I am unreliable; but I am not using language improperly. But if
I tell you this without using one of the guarding phrases and without having
what I think good reasons, I am. What U says may be assumed to be relevant to
the interests of his addressee. This is the most important of the three rules;
unfortunately it is also the most frequently broken. Bores are more common than
liars or careless talkers. This rule is particularly obvious in the case of
answers to questions, since it is assumed that the answer is an answer. Not all
statements are answers to questions; information may be volunteered.
Nevertheless the publication of a text-book on trigonometry implies that the
author believes that there are people who want to learn about trigonometry, and
to give advice implies a belief that the advice is relevant to one’s
addressee's problem. This rule is of the greatest importance for ethics. For
the major problem of ethics is that of bridging the gap between a decisions, an
ought-sentence, an injunction, and a sentence used to give advice on the one
hand and the statements of *fact*, sometime regarding the U’s soul, that
constitute the reasons for these on the other. It is in order to bridge these
gaps that insight into necessary synthetic connexions is invoked. This rule of
contextual implication may help us to show that there is no gap to be bridged
because the reason-giving sentence must turn out to be also *practical* from
the start and not a statement of *fact*, even concerning the state of the U’s
soul, from which a practical sentence can somehow be deduced. This rule is,
therefore, more than a rule of good manners; or rather it shows how, in matters
of ordinary language, rules of good manners shade into logical rules. Unless we
assume that it is being observed we cannot understand the connexions between
decisions, advice, and appraisals and the reasons given in support of them. Refs.: The main reference is in the first set of ‘Logic and
conversation.’ Many keywords are useful, not just ‘candour,’ but notably
‘trust.’ (“Rationality and trust,” c. 9-f. 5, “Trust, metaphysics, and value,”
c. 9-f. 20, and “Aristotle and friendship, rationality, trust, and decency,” c.
6-f. 18), BANC.
desideratum of conversational
clarity. If mutual expectation not to
mislead and produce the stronger contribution are characteristics of candour,
expectation of mutual relevance to interests, and being explicit and clear in
your point are two characteristics of this desideratum. “Candour” and “clarity’
are somewhat co-relative for Grice. He is interested in identifying this or
that desideratum. By having two of them, he can play. So, how UNCLEAR can a
conversationalist be provided he WANTS to be candid? Candour trumps clarity.
But too much ‘unperspicuity’ may lead to something not being deemed an
‘implicatum’ at all. Grice is especially concerned with philosopher’s
paradoxes. Why would Strawson say that the usage of ‘not,’ ‘and,’ ‘or,’ ‘if,’
‘if and only if,’ ‘all,’ ‘some (at least one), ‘the,’ do not correspond to the
logician’s use? Questions of candour and clarity interact. Grice’s first
application, which he grants is not original, relates to “The pillar box seems
red” versus “The pillar box is red.” “I would not like to give the false
impression that the pillar box is not red” seems less clear than “The pillar
box is red” – Yet the unperspicuous contributin is still ‘candid,’ in the sense
that it expresses a truth. So one has to be careful. On top, philosophers like
Lewis were using ‘clarity is not enough’ as a battle cry! Grice’s favourite
formulations of the imperatives here are ‘self-contradictory,’ and for which he
uses ‘[sic]’, notably: “Be perspicuous [sic]’ and “Be brief. Avoid unnecessary
prolixity [sic].’
desirability: This Grice calls the Jeffrey operator. If Urmson likes
‘probably,’ Grice likes ‘desirably.’ This theorem is a corollary of the
desirability axiom by Jeffrey, which is: "If prob XY = 0, for a prima
facie PF(A V B) A (x E w)] = PFA A (x E
w)] + PfB A (x El+ w)]. This is the account by Grice of the adaptability of a
pirot to its changeable environs. Grice borrows the notion of probability (henceforth,
“pr”) from Davidson, whose early claim to fame was to provide the logic of the
notion. Grice abbreviates probability by Pr. and compares it to a buletic operator
‘pf,’ ‘for prima facie,’ attached to ‘De’ for desirability. A rational agent
must calculate both the probability and the desirability of his
action. For both probability and desirability, the degree is crucial.
Grice symbolises this by d: probability in degree d; probability in degree
d. The topic of life Grice relates to that of adaptation and surival, and
connects with his genitorial programme of creature construction (Pology.): life
as continued operancy. Grice was fascinated with life (Aristotle, bios) because
bios is what provides for Aristotle the definition (not by genus) of
psyche. The steps are as follows. Pf(p ⊃!q)/Pr(p
⊃ q); pf((p1 ^ p2) ⊃!q)/pr(p1 ^ p2 ⊃q); pf((p1 ^ p2 ^ p3) ⊃!q)/pr(p1 ^ p2 ^ p3 ^ p4 ⊃q);
pf (all things before me ⊃!q)/pr (all things before me ⊃
q); pf (all things considered ⊃ !q)/pr(all things considered ⊃ q); !q/|- q; G wills !q/G judges q. Strictly, Grice avoids
using the noun probability (other than for the title of this or that lecture).
One has to use the sentence-modifier ‘probably,’ and ‘desirably.’ So the
specific correlative to the buletic prima facie ‘desirably’ is the doxastic ‘probably.’
Grice liked the Roman sound to ‘prima facie,’ ‘at first sight’: “exceptio, quae prima facie justa videatur.” Refs.:
The two main sources are “Probability, desirability, and mood operators,” c.
2-f. 11, and “Modality, desirability and probability,” c. 8-ff. 14-15. But most
of the material is collected in “Aspects,” especially in the third and fourth
lectures. The H. P. Grice Papers, BANC.
deutero-esperanto: Arbitrariness need not be a two-party thing. E
communicates to himself that there is danger by drawing a skull. Grice genially
opposed to the idea of a convention. He hated a convention. A language is not
conventional. Meaning is not conventional. Communication is not conventional. He
was even unhappy with the account of convention by Lewis in terms of an
arbitrary co-ordination. While the co-ordination bit passes rational muster,
the arbitrary element is deemed a necessary condition, and Grice hated that.
For Grice there is natural, and iconic. When a representation ceases to be
iconic and becomes, for lack of a better expression, non-iconic, things get, we
may assume conventional. One form of correlation in his last definition of
meaing allows for a conventional correlation. “Pain!,” the P cries. There is
nothing in /pein/ that minimally resembles the pain the P is suffering. So from
his involuntary “Ouch” to his simulated “Ouch,” he thinks he can say “Pain.”
Bennett explored the stages after that. The dog is shaggy is Grices example.
All sorts of resultant procedures are needed for reference and predication,
which may be deemed conventional. One may refer nonconventionally, by
ostension. It seems more difficult to predicate non-conventionally. But there
may be iconic predication. Urquhart promises twelve parts of speech: each
declinable in eleven cases, four numbers, eleven genders (including god,
goddess, man, woman, animal, etc.); and conjugable in eleven tenses, seven
moods, and four voices. The language will translate any idiom in any other
language, without any alteration of the literal sense, but fully representing
the intention. Later, one day, while lying in his bath, Grice designed
deutero-esperanto. The obble is fang may be current only for Griceian
members of the class of utterers. It is only this or that philosophers practice
to utter The obble is fang in such-and-such circumstances. In this case,
the utterer U does have a readiness to utter The obble is feng in such-and-such
circumstances. There is also the scenario in which The obble is fang is may be
conceived by the philosopher not to be deemed current at all, but
the utterance of The obble is feng in such-and-such circumstances is part
of some system of communication which the utterer U (Lockwith,, Urquart,
Wilkins, Edmonds, Grice) has devised but which has never been put into operation,
like the highway code which Grice invent another day again while lying in his
bath. In that case, U does this or that basic or resultant procedure for
the obble is feng in an attenuated but philosophically legitimate fashion. U
has envisaged a possible system of practices which involve a readiness to
utter Example by Grice that does NOT involve a convention in this usage. Surely
Grice can as he indeed did, invent a language, call it Deutero-Esperanto,
Griceish, or Pirotese, which nobody at Oxford ever uses to communicat. That
makes Grice the authority - cf. arkhe, authority, government (in plural),
"authorities" - and Grice can lay down, while lying in the tub, no
doubt - what is proper. A P can be said to potch of some obble o as fang
or as feng. Also to cotch of some obble o, as fang or feng; or to cotch of one
obble o and another obble o as being fid to one another.” In symbols:
(Ex)(Ey).Px ^ Oy ^ potch(x, y, fang) (Ex)(Ey).Px ^ Oy ^ potch(x, y, feng)
(Ex)(Ey).Px ^ Oy ^ cotch(x, y, fang) (Ex)(Ey).Px ^ Ox ^ cotch(x, y, feng)
(Ex)(Ey).Px ^ Oz ^ Oy ^ cotch(x, fid(y,z)). Let’s say that Ps (as Russell and
Carnap conceived them) inhabit a world of obbles, material objects, or
things. To potch is something like to perceive; to cotch something like to
think. Feng and fang are possible descriptions, much like our adjectives. Fid
is a possible relation between obbles. Grice provides a symbolisation for
content internalisation. The perceiver or cognitive Subjects perceives or
cognises two objects, x, y, as holding a relation of some type. There is
a higher level that Ps can reach when the object of their potchings and
cotchings is not so much objects but states of affairs. Its then that the
truth-functional operators will be brought to existence “^”: cotch(p ^ q)
“V”: cotch(p v q) “)”: )-cotch(p ) q) A P will be able to reject a
content, refuse-thinking: ~. Cotch(~p). When P1 perceives P2, the reciprocals
get more complicated. P2 cotches that P1!-judges that p. Grice
uses ψ1 for potching and ψ2
for cotching. If P2 is co-operative, and abides by "The Ps Immanuel,"
P2 will honour, in a Kantian benevolent way, his partners goal by adopting
temporarily his partners goal potch(x (portch(y, !p)) ⊃ potch(x, !p). But by then, its hardly simpler
ways. Especially when the Ps outdo their progenitor Carnap as metaphysicians.
The details are under “eschatology,” but the expressions are here “α izzes α.” This
would be the principle of non-contradiction or identity. P1 applies it war, and
utters War is war which yields a most peculiar implicature. “if α izzes β ∧ β izzes γ, α izz γ.” This is transitivity, which is
crucial for Ps to overcome Berkeley’s counterexample to Locke, and define their
identity over time. “if α hazzes β, α izzes β.” Or, what is accidental is not
essential. A P may allow that what is essential is accidental while misleading,
is boringly true. “α hazzes β iff α hazzes x ∧ x izzes β.” “If β is a katholou or universalium, β is
an eidos or forma.” For surely Ps need not be stupid to fail to see
squarrelhood. “if α hazzes β ∧ α
izzes a particular, γ≠α ∧ α izz β.” “α izzes predicable
of β iff ((β izzes α) ∨ (∃x)(β hazzes x ∧ x
izzes α). “α izzes essentially predicable of β ⊃⊂ β izzes α α
izzes non-essentially/accidentally predicable of β ⊃⊂ (∃x)(β hazzes x ∧ x
izzes α). α = β iff α izzes β ∧ β
izzes α. “α izzes an atomon, or individuum ⊃⊂ □(∀β)(β izzes α ⊃ α
izzes β). “α izzes a particular ⊃⊂ □(∀β)(α izzes predicable of β ⊃ (α izzes β ∧ β
izzes α)). α izzes a universalium ⊃⊂ ◊(∃β)(α izzes predicable of α ∧ ~(α izzes β ∧ β
izzes α). α izzes some-thing ⊃ α
izzes an individuum. α izzes an eidos or forma ⊃ (α izzes some-thing ∧ α izzes a universalium); α izzes predicable of β ⊃⊂ (β izzes α) ∨ (∃x)(β hazzes x ∧ x
izzes α). “ α izzes essentially predicable of α α izzes accidentally
predicable of β ⊃ α ≠ β. ~(α izzes accidentally predicable of
β) ⊃ α ≠ β. α izzes an kathekaston or particular ⊃ α izzes an individuum; α izz a particular ⊃ ~(∃x)(x ≠ α ∧ x izz α). ~(∃x).(x
izzes a particular ∧ x izzes a forma) ⊢ α
izzes a forma ⊃ ~(∃x)(x ≠ α ∧ x izzes α). x izzes a particular ⊃ ~(∃β)(α izzes β); α izzes a forma ⊃ ((α izzes predicable of β ∧ α ≠ β) ⊃ β
hazzes α); α izzes a forma ∧ β
izzes a particular ⊃ (α izzes predicable of β ⊃⊂ β hazzes A); (α izzes a particular ∧ β izzes a universalium ∧ β izzes predicable of α) ⊃ (∃γ)(α ≠ γ ∧ γ
izzes essentially predicable of α). (∃x)
(∃y)(x izzes a particular ∧ y
izzes a universalium ∧ y izzes predicable of x ⊃ ~(∀x)(x izzes a universalium ∧ x izzes some-thing). (∀β)(β izzes a universalium ⊃ β izzes some-thing). α izzes a particular) ⊃ ~∃β.(α ≠ β ∧ β
izzes essentially predicable of α). (α izzes predicable of β ∧ α ≠ β) ⊃ α
izzes non-essentially or accidentally predicable of β. Grice
is following a Leibnizian tradition. A philosophical language is any
constructed language that is constructed from first principles or certain
ideologies. It is considered a type of engineered language.
Philosophical languages were popular in Early Modern times, partly motivated by
the goal of recovering the lost Adamic or Divine language. The term
“ideal language” is sometimes used near-synonymously, though more modern
philosophical languages such as “Toki Pona” are less likely to involve such an
exalted claim of perfection. It may be known as a language of pure
ideology. The axioms and grammars of the languages together differ from
commonly spoken languages today. In most older philosophical languages,
and some newer ones, words are constructed from a limited set of morphemes that
are treated as "elemental" or fundamental. "Philosophical
language" is sometimes used synonymously with "taxonomic
language", though more recently there have been several conlangs
constructed on philosophical principles which are not taxonomic. Vocabularies
of oligo-synthetic communication-systems are made of compound expressions,
which are coined from a small (theoretically minimal) set of morphemes;
oligo-isolating communication-systems, such as Toki Pona, similarly use a
limited set of root words but produce phrases which remain s. of distinct
words. Toki Pona is based on minimalistic simplicity, incorporating
elements of Taoism. Láadan is designed to lexicalize and grammaticalise the
concepts and distinctions important to women, based on muted group
theory. A priori languages are constructed languages where the vocabulary
is invented directly, rather than being derived from other existing languages
(as with Esperanto, or Grices Deutero-Esperanto, or Pirotese or Ido). It all
starts when Carnap claims to know that pritos karulise elatically. Grice as
engineer. Pirotese is the philosophers engaging in Pology. Actually, Pirotese
is the lingo the Ps parrot. Ps karulise elatically. But not all of
them. Grice finds that the Pological talk allows to start from
zero. He is constructing a language, (basic) Pirotese, and the
philosophical psychology and world that that language is supposed to represent
or denote. An obble is a Ps object. Grice introduces potching and
cotching. To potch, in Pirotese, is what a P does with an obble: he perceives
it. To cotch is Pirotese for what a P can further do with an obble: know or
cognise it. Cotching, unlike potching, is factive. Pirotese would
not be the first language invented by a philosopher. Refs.: While the
reference to “Deutero-Esperanto’ comes from “Meaning revisited,” other keywords
are useful, notably “Pirotese” and “Symbolo.” Also keywords like “obble,” and “pirot.”
The H. P. Grice Papers, BANC.
diagoge: Cf. Grice’s emphasis on the ‘argument’ involved in the
conversational implciatum, though. To work out an impilcatum is to reach it ‘by
argument.’ No argument, no conversational implicatum. But cf. argument in
Emissor draws skull and communicates that there is danger. ARGUMENT involved in
that Emissor intends his addressee WILL REASON. Can the lady communicate to the
pigeons that she is selling ‘twopence a bag’ for their pleasure? Grice
contrasted epagoge with diagoge. Cooperation with competition. Cooperative game
with competitive game. But epagoge is induction, so here we’ll consider his
views on probability and how it contrastds with diagoge. The diagoge is easy to
identity: Grice is a social animal, with the BA, Philosophy, conferences,
discussion, The American Philosophical Association, transcripts by Randall
Parker, from the audio-tapes contained in c. 10 within the same s. IV
miscellaneous, Beanfest, transcripts and audio-cassettes, s. IV, c. 6-f. 8,
and f. 10, and s. V, c. 8-f.
4-8 Unfortunately, Parker typed carulise for karulise, or not. Re:
probability, Grice loves to reminisce an anecdote concerning his tutor Hardie
at Corpus when Hardie invoked Mills principles to prove that Hardie was
not responsible for a traffic jam. In drafts on word play, Grice would
speak of not bringing more Grice to your Mill. Mills System of Logic was part
of the reading material for his degree in Lit. Hum.at Oxford, so he was
very familiar with it. Mill represents the best of the English empiricist
tradition. Grice kept an interest on inductive methodology. In his Life
and opinions he mentions some obscure essays by Kneale and Keynes on the topic.
Grice was interested in Kneales secondary induction, since Grice saw this as an
application of a construction routine. He was also interested in Keyness notion
of a generator property, which he found metaphysically intriguing.
Induction. Induction ‒ Mill’s Induction, induction, deduction, abduction,
Mill. More Grice to the Mill. Grice loved Hardies playing with Mill’s
method of difference with an Oxford copper. He also quotes Kneale and Keynes on
induction. Note that his seven-step derivation of akrasia relies on an
inductive step! Grice was fortunate to associate with Davidson, whose initial
work is on porbability. Grice borrows from Davidson the idea that inductive probability,
or probable, attaches to the doxastic, while prima facie attaches to desirably,
or desirability. Jeffreys notion of desirability is
partition-invariant in that if a proposition, A, can be expressed as the
disjoint disjunction of both {B1, B2, B3} and {C1, C2, C3}, ∑ Bi ∈ AProb (Bi ∣∣ A).
Des (Bi) = ∑Ci ∈ A Prob (Ci ∣∣ A).
Des (Ci). It follows that applying the rule of desirability maximization
will always lead to the same recommendation, irrespective of how the decision
problem is framed, while an alternative theory may recommend different courses
of action, depending on how the decision problem is
formulated. Here, then, is the analogue of Jeffreys desirability
axiom (D), applied to sentences rather than propositions: (D) (prob(s and t) =
0 and prob(s or t) "# 0, ⊃ d
( ) prob(s)des(s)+ prob(t)des(t) es s or t =-"---- prob( s) + prob(t )
(Grice writes prob(s) for the Subjectsive probability of sand des(s) for the
desirability or utility of s.) B. Jeffrey admits that "desirability"
(his terms for evidential value) does not directly correspond to any single
pre-theoretical notion of desire. Instead, it provides the best systematic
explication of the decision theoretic idea, which is itself our best effort to
make precise the intuitive idea of weighing options. As Jeffrey remarks, it is
entirely possibly to desire someone’s love when you already have it. Therefore,
as Grice would follow, Jeffrey has the desirability operator fall under the
scope of the probability operator. The agents desire that p provided he judges
that p does not obtain. Diagoge/epagoge, Grices audio-files, the audio-files,
audio-files of various lectures and conferences, some seminars with Warner and
J. Baker, audio files of various lectures and conferences. Subjects: epagoge,
diagoge. A previous folder in the collection contains the transcripts.
These are the audio-tapes themselves, obviously not in folder. The kind of
metaphysical argument which I have in mind might be said, perhaps, to exemplify
a dia-gogic or trans-ductive as opposed to epa-gogic or in-ductive approach to
philosophical argumentation. Hence Short and Lewis have, for ‘diagoge,’ the
cognates of ‘trādūco,’ f. transduco. Now, the more emphasis is placed on
justification by elimination of the rival, the greater is the impetus given to
refutation, whether of theses or of people. And perhaps a greater emphasis on a
diagogic procedure, if it could be shown to be justifiable, would have an
eirenic effect. Cf. Aristotle on diagoge, schole, otium. Liddell and Scott
have “διαγωγή,” which they render as “literally carrying across,” -- “τριήρων”
Polyaen.5.2.6, also as “carrying through,” and “hence fig.” “ἡ διὰ πάντων αὐτῶν
δ., “taking a person through a subject by instruction, Pl. Ep.343; so, course
of instruction, lectures, ἐν τῇ ἐνεστώσῃ δ. prob. in Phld. Piet.25; also
passing of life, way or course of life, “δ. βίου” Pl. R.344e: abs., Id.
Tht.177a, etc., way of passing time, amusement, “δ. μετὰ παιδιᾶς” Arist. EN
1127b34, cf. 1177a27; “δ. ἐλευθέριος” Id. Pol.1339b5; διαγωγαὶ τοῦ συζῆν public
pastimes, ib.1280b37, cf. Plu.126b (pl.). also delay, D.C. 57.3. management,
τῶν πραγμάτων δ. dispatch of business, Id.48.5. IV. station for ships, f. l. in
Hdn.4.2.8. And there are other entries to consider: διαγωγάν: διαίρεσιν,
διανομήν, διέλευσιν. Grice knew what he was talking about! Refs.: The main
sources listed under ‘desirability,’ above. There is a specific essay on
‘probability and life.’ Good keywords, too, are epagoge and induction The H. P.
Grice Papers, BANC.
Diaphaneity
Grice unique in his subtlety. Strawson and Wiggins. 'the quality of being
freely pervious to light; transparency', OED. This is a crucial concept for Grice. He applies it
‘see,’ which which, after joint endeavours with G. J. Warnock, he was obsessed!
Grice considers the ascription, “Warnock sees that it is raining.” And then he
adds, “And it is true, I see that it is raining, too.” What’s the diference.
Then comes Strawson. “Strawson, you see that it is raining, right?” So we have
an ascription in the first, second, and third persons. When it comes to the
identification of a sense (like vision) via experience or qualia, we are at a
problem, because ‘see,’ allowing for what Ryle calls a ‘conversational avowal,’
that nobody has an authority to distrust, is what Grice calls a ‘diaphanous’
predicate. More formally. That means that “Grice sees that it is raining,” in
terms of experience, cannot really be expanded except by expanding into WHAT IS
that Grice sees, viz. that it is raining. The same with “communicating that p,”
and “meaning that p.”
dictum: Cf. dictor, and dictivenss. Not necessarily involved with
‘say,’ but with ‘deixis,’ So a dictum is involved in Emissor E drawing a skull,
communicating that there is danger. It is Hare who introduced ‘dictum’ in the
Oxonian philosophical literature in his T. H. Green Essay. Hare distinguishes
between the ‘dictum,’ that the cat is on the mat, from the ‘dictor,’ ‘I state
that the cat is on the mat, yes.’ ‘Cat, on the mat, please.’ Grice often refers
to Hare’s play with words, which he obviously enjoys. In “Epilogue,” Grice
elaborates on the ‘dictum,’ and turns it into ‘dictivitas.’ How does he coin
that word? He starts with Cicero, who has ‘dictivm,’ and creates an abstract
noun to match. Grice needs a concept of a ‘dictum’ ambiguous as it is. Grice
distinguishes between what an Utterer explicitly conveys, e. g. that Strawson
took off his boots and went to bed. Then there’s what Grice implicitly conveys,
to wit: that Strawson took off his boots and went to bed – in that order. Surely
Grice has STATED that Strawson took off his boots and went to bed. Grice has
ASSERTED that Strawson took off his boots and went to bed. But if Grice were to
order Strawson: “Put on your parachute and jump!” the implicata may differ. By
uttering that utterance, Grice has not asserted or stated anything. So Grice
needs a dummy that will do for indicatives and imperatives. ‘Convey’ usually
does – especially in the modality ‘explicitly’ convey. Because by uttering that
utterance Grice has explicitly conveyed that Strawson is to put on his
parachute and jump. Grice has implicitly conveyd that Strawson is to put on his
parachute and THEN jump, surely.
disgrice: In PGRICE, Kemmerling speaks of disgricing as the
opposite of gricing. The first way to disgrice Kemmerling calls
‘strawsonising.’For Strawson, even the resemblance (for Grice, equivalence in
terms of 'iff' -- cf. his account of what an syntactically structured
non-complete expression) between (G) There is not a single volume in
my uncle’s library which is not by an English author,’and the negatively
existential form (LFG) ~ (Ex)(Ax . ~ Bx)’ is deceptive, ‘It is not
the case that there exists an x such
that x is a book in Grice’s uncle’s library and x is written by an Englishman. FIRST, 'There is not a single volume in uncle’s
library which is not by an English author' --
as normally used, carries the presupposition -- or entails, for Grice -- (G2) Some (at least one) book is in
Grice’s uncle’s library. SECOND, 'There is not a single volume in
Grice’s uncle’s library which is not by an English author,’ is far from being
'entailed' by (G3e) It is not the case that there is some (at least one)
book in my room. If we give ‘There not a
single book in my room which is not by an English author’ the modernist
logical form ‘~ (Ex)(Ax .~ Bx),’ we see
that this is ENTAILED by the
briefer, and indeed logicall stronger (in terms of entailments) ~ (Ex)Ax. So when Grice, with a solemn face, utters, ‘There
is not a single foreign volume in my uncle’s library, to reveal later that the library is empty, Grice should expect
his addressee to get some odd feeling. Surely not the feeling of having been
lied to -- or been confronted with an initial false utterance --, because we
have not. Strawson gets the feeling of having been made "the victim of a sort
of communicative outrage." "What you say is outrageous!" This
sounds stronger than it is. An outrage is believed to be an evil deed, offense,
crime; affront, indignity, act not within established or reasonable
limits," of food, drink, dress, speech, etc., from Old French outrage "harm, damage;
insult; criminal behavior; presumption, insolence, overweening" (12c.),
earlier oltrage (11c.),
From Vulgar Latin ‘ultraticum,’
excess," from Latin ultra,
beyond" (from suffixed form of PIE root *al- "beyond"). Etymologically, "the passing
beyond reasonable bounds" in any sense. The meaning narrowed in English
toward violent excesses because of folk etymology from out + rage. Of injuries to feelings,
principles, etc., from outrage, v. outragen,
"to go to excess, act immoderately," from outrage (n.) or from Old
French oultrager. From
1580s with meaning "do violence to, attack, maltreat." Related: Outraged; outraging. But Strawson gets the
feeling of having been made "the victim of a sort of communicative
outrage.” When Grice was only trying to tutor him in The Organon. Of
course it is not the case that Grice is explicitly conveying or expressing that
there there is some (at least one) book in his uncle's room. Grice has not said
anything false. Or rather, it is not the case that Grice utters an
utterance which is not alethically or doxastically satisfactory. Yet what Grice
gives Strawson the defeasible, cancellable, license to to assume that
Grice thinks there is at least one book. Unless he goes on to cancel the
implicature, Grice may be deemed to be misleading Strawson. What Grice
explicitly conveys to be true (or false) it is necessary (though not sufficient)
that there should at least one volume in his uncle’s library -- It is not the
case that my uncle has a library and in that library all the books are
autochthonous to England, i.e. it is not the case that Grice’s uncle has a
library; for starters, it is not the case that Grice has a literate uncle. Of
this SUBTLE, nuantic, or cloudy or foggy, "slight or delicate degree of
difference in expression, feeling, opinion, etc.," from Fr. nuance "slight
difference, shade of colour,” from nuer "to
shade," from nue "cloud," from Gallo-Roman nuba, from
Latin nubes "a
cloud, mist, vapour," sneudh- "fog," source also of
Avestan snaoda "clouds,"
Latin obnubere "to
veil," Welsh nudd "fog," Greek nython, in
Hesychius "dark, dusky") According to Klein, the French usage is a
reference to "the different colours of the clouds,” in reference to color
or tone, "a slight variation in shade; of music, as a French term in
English -- 'sort' is the relation between ‘There is not a volume in my
uncle's library which is not by an English author,’ and ‘My uncle's
library is not empty. RE-ENTER GRICE. Grice suggested that Strawson see such a
fine point such as that, which Grice had the kindness to call an 'implicatum', the
result of an act of an ‘implicatura’ (they were both attending Kneale’s seminar
on the growth and ungrowth of logic) is irrelevant to the issue of
‘entailment’. It is a 'merely pragmatic’ implicatum, Grice would say, bringing
forward a couple of distinctions: logical/pragmatic point; logical/pragmatic
inference; entailment/implicatum; conveying explicitly/conveying implicitly;
stating/implicating; asserting/implying; what an utterer means/what the
expression 'means' -- but cf. Nowell-Smith, who left Oxford after being
overwhelmed by Grice, "this is how the rules of etiquette inform the rules
of logic -- on the 'rule' of relevance in "Ethics," 1955. If to call
such a point, as Grice does, as "irrelevant to logic" is vacuous in
that it may be interpreted as saying that that such a fine foggy point is not
considered in a modernist formal system of first-order predicate calculus with
identity, this Strawson wishes not to dispute, but to emphasise. Call it his
battle cry! But to 'logic' as concerned with this or that relation between this
or that general class of statement occurring in ordinary use, and the attending
general condition under which this or that statement is correctly called 'true'
or 'false,' this fine foggy nice point would hardly be irrelevant. GRICE'S
FORMALIST (MODERNIST) INTERPRETATION. Some 'pragmatic' consideration, or
assumption, or expectation, a desideratum of conversational conduct obviously underlies
and in fact 'explains' the implicatum, without having to change the ‘sense’ of
Aristotle’s syllogistics in terms of the logical forms of A, E, I, and O. If we
abide by an imperative of conversational helpfulness, enjoining the maximally
giving and receiving of information and the influencing and being influenced by
others in the institution of a decisions, the sub-imperative follows to the
effect, ‘Thou shalt NOT make a weak move compared to the stronger one that thou
canst truthfully make, and with equal or greater economy of means.’ Assume the
form ‘There is not a single … which is not . . .,’ or ‘It is not the case
that ... there is some (at least one) x that ... is not ... is introduced
in ‘ordinary’ language with the same SENSE as the expression in the
‘ideal’ language, ~(Ex)(Ax and ~Bx). Then prohibition inhibits the utterance of
the form where the utterer can truly and truthfully simply convey
explicitly ‘There is not a single ..., i. e. ~(Ex)(Fx). It is
defeasible prohibition which tends to confer on the overprolixic form ('it is
not the case that ... there is some (at least one) x that is not ...') just
that kind of an implicatum which Strawson identifies. But having
detected a nuance in a conversational phenomenon is not the same thing as rushing
ahead to try to explain it BEFORE exploring in some detail what kind of a
nuance it is. The mistake is often commited by Austin, too (in "Other Minds,"
and "A Plea for Excuses"), and by Hart (on 'carefully'), and by Hare
(on "good"), and by Strawson on 'true,' (Analysis), ‘the,’ and 'if --
just to restrict to the play group. Grice tries to respond to anti-sense-datum
in "That pillar box seems red to me,” but Strawson was not listening. The overprolixic form in the ‘ordinary’
language, ‘It is not the case that there is some (at least one x) such that ...
x is not ...’ would tend, if it does not remain otiose, to develop or generate
just that baffling effect in one's addressee ('outrage!') that Strawson identifies,
as opposed to the formal-device in the ‘ideal’ language with which the the
‘ordinary’ language counterpart is co-related. What weakens our resistance
to the negatively existential analysis in this case more than in the case of
the corresponding "All '-sentence is the powerful attraction of the negative
opening phrase There is not …'. To avoid misunderstanding one may
add a point about the neo-traditionalist interpretation of the forms of the traditional
Aristotelian system. Strawson is not claiming that it faithfully
represents this or that intention of the principal exponent of the Square of
Opposition. Appuleius, who knows, was perhaps, more interested in formulating
this or that theorem governing this or that logical relation of this or that
more imposing general statement than this or that everyday general statement
that Strawson considers. Appuleius, who knows, might have
been interested, e. g., in the logical powers of this or that
generalisation, or this or that sentence which approximates more closely to the
desired conditions that if its utterance by anyone, at any time, at any place,
results in a true statement, so does its utterance by anyone else, at any other
time, at any other place. How far the account by the neo-traditionalist
of this or that general sentence of 'ordinary' langauge is adequate for every
generalization may well be under debate. Refs.: H. P. Grice, “In defence of
Appuleius,” BANC.
disimplicatum: the target is of course Davidson having the cheek to quote
Grice’s Henriette Herz Trust lecture for the BA! Lewis and Short have
‘intendere’ under ‘in-tendo,’ which they render as ‘to stretch out or forth,
extend, also to turn ones attention to, exert one’s self for, to purpose,
endeavour,” and finaly as “intend”! “pergin, sceleste, intendere hanc arguere?”
Plaut. Mil. 2, 4, 27 Grices tends towards claiming that you cannot extend
what you dont intend. In the James lectures, Grice mentions the use of is to
mean seem (The tie is red in this light), and see to mean hallucinate. The
reductive analyses of being and seeing hold. We have here two cases of loose
use (or disimplicature). Same now with his example in “Intention and Uncertainty”
(henceforth, “Uncertainty”): Smith intends to climb Mt. Everest +
[common-ground status: this is difficult]. Grices response to Davidsons pretty
unfair use of Grices notion of conversational implicature in Davidsons analysis
of intention caught a lot of interest. Pears loved Grices reply. Implicatum
here is out of the question ‒ disimplicatum may not. Grice just saw that his
theory of conversation is too social to be true when applied to intending. The
doxastic condition is one of the entailments in an ascription of an intending.
It cannot be cancelled as an implicatum can. If it can be cancelled, it is best
seen as a disimplicatum, or a loose use by an utterer meaning less than what he
says or explicitly conveys to more careful conversants. Grice and Davidson
were members of The Grice and Davidson Mutual Admiration
Society. Davidson, not being Oxonian, was perhaps not acquainted with Grices
polemics at Oxford with Hart and Hampshire (where Grice sided with Pears,
rather). Grice and Pears hold a minimalist approach to intending. On
the other hand, Davidson makes what Grice sees as the same mistake again of
building certainty into the concept. Grice finds that to apply the idea of
a conversational implicatum at this point is too social to be
true. Rather, Grice prefers to coin the conversational
disimplicatum: Marmaduke Bloggs intends to climb Mt Everest on hands and
knees. The utterance above, if merely reporting what Bloggs thinks, may
involve a loose use of intends. The certainty on the agents part on the
success of his enterprise is thus cast with doubt. Davidson was claiming
that the agents belief in the probability of the object of the agents intention
was a mere conversational implicatum on the utterers part. Grice responds
that the ascription of such a belief is an entailment of a strict use of
intend, even if, in cases where the utterer aims at a conversational
disimplicatum, it can be dropped. The addressee will still regard
the utterer as abiding by the principle of conversational helpfulness. Pears
was especially interested in the Davidson-Grice polemic on intending, disimplicature,
disimplicature. Strictly, a section of his reply to Davidson. If Grices claim
to fame is implicature, he finds disimplicature an intriguing notion to capture
those occasions when an utterer means LESS than he says. His examples include:
a loose use of intending (without the entailment of the doxastic condition), the
uses of see in Shakespeareian contexts (Macbeth saw Banquo, Hamlet saw his
father on the ramparts of Elsinore) and the use of is to mean seems (That tie
is blue under this light, but green otherwise, when both conversants know that
a change of colour is out of the question. He plays with Youre the cream in my
coffee being an utterance where the disimplicature (i.e. entailment dropping)
is total. Disimplicature does not appeal to a new principle of conversational
rationality. It is perfectly accountable by the principle of conversational
helpfulness, in particular, the desideratum of conversational candour. In everyday explanation we exploit, as Grice notes,
an immense richness in the family of expressions that might be thought of as
the wanting family. This wanting family includes expressions like want, desire,
would like to, is eager to, is anxious to, would mind not…, the idea of appeals to me, is thinking of, etc. As Grice
remarks, The likeness and differences within this wanting family demand careful
attention. In commenting on Davidsons treatment of wanting in
Intending, Grice notes: It seems to Grice that the picture of the soul
suggested by Davidsons treatment of wanting is remarkably tranquil and, one
might almost say, computerized. It is the picture of an ideally decorous board
meeting, at which the various heads of sections advance, from the standpoint of
their particular provinces, the case for or against some proposed course of
action. In the end the chairman passes judgement, effective for action;
normally judiciously, though sometimes he is for one reason or another
over-impressed with the presentation made by some particular member. Grices
soul doesnt seem to him, a lot of the time, to be like that at all. It is more
like a particularly unpleasant department meeting, in which some members shout,
wont listen, and suborn other members to lie on their behalf; while the
chairman, who is often himself under suspicion of cheating, endeavours to
impose some kind of order; frequently to no effect, since sometimes the meeting
breaks up in disorder, sometimes, though it appears to end comfortably, in
reality all sorts of enduring lesions are set up, and sometimes, whatever the
outcome of the meeting, individual members go off and do things unilaterally.
Could it be that Davidson, of the New World, and Grice, of the Old World, have
different idiolects regarding intend? Could well be! It is said that the New
World is prone to hyperbole, so perhaps in Grices more cautious use, intend is
restricted to the conditions HE wants it to restrict it too! Odd that for all
the generosity he displays in Post-war Oxford philosophy (Surely I can help you
analyse you concept of this or that, even if my use of the corresponding
expression does not agree with yours), he goes to attack Davidson, and just for
trying to be nice and apply the conversational implicatum to intend! Genial
Grice! It is natural Davidson, with his naturalistic tendencies, would like to
see intending as merely invoking in a weak fashion the idea of a strong
psychological state as belief. And its natural that Grice hated that! Refs.:
The source is Grice’s comment on Davidson on intending. The H. P. Grice Papers,
BANC.
disjunctum: Strangely enough Ariskant thought disjunctum, but not
conjunctum a categorial related to the category of ‘community’!Aulus Gellius
(The Attic Nights, XVI, 8) tells us about this disjunction: “There also is ■
another type of a^twpa which the Greeks call and we call disjunctum,
disjunctive sentence. Gellius notes that ‘or’ is by default ‘inclusive’: where
one or several propositions may be simultaneously true, without ex- cluding one
another, although they may also all be false. Gellius expands on the
non-default reading of exclusive disjunction: pleasure is either good or bad or
it is neither good nor bad (“Aut malum est voluplas, aut bonum, aul neque
bonum, neque malum est”). All the elements of the exclusive disjunctive exclude
one another, and their contradictory elements, Gr. avTtxs'-p.sva, are
incompatible with one another”. “Ex omnibus quae disjunguntiir, unum esse verum
debet, falsa cetera.”Grice lists ‘or’ as the second binary functor in his
response to Strawson. But both Grice and Strawson agreed that the Oxonian
expert on ‘or’ is Wood. Mitchell is good, too, though. The relations between
“v” and “or” (or “either ... or …”) are, on the whole, less intimate than those
between “.” and “and,” but less distant than those between “D” and “if.” Let us
speak of a statement made by coupling two clauses by “or” as an alternative
statement ; and let us speak of the first and second alternatesof such a
statement, on analogy with our talk of the antecedent and consequent of a
hypothetical statement. At a bus-stop, someone might say: “Either we catch this
bus or we shall have to walk all the way home.” He might equally well have said
“If we don't catch this bus, we shall have to walk all the way home.” It will
be seen that the antecedent of the hypothetical statement he might have made is
the negation of the first alternate of the alternative statement he did make.
Obviously, we should not regard our catching the bus as a sufficient condition
of the 'truth' of either statement; if it turns out that the bus we caught was
not the last one, we should say that the man who had made the statement had
been wrong. The truth of one of the alternates is no more a sufficient
condition of the truth of the alternative statement than the falsity of the
antecedent is a sufficient condition of the truth of the hypothetical
statement. And since 'p"Dpyq' (and, equally, * q"3p v q ') is a law
of the truth-functional system, this fact sufficiently shows a difference
between at least one standard use of “or” and the meaning given to “v.” Now in
all, or almost all, the cases where we are prepared to say something of the
form “p or q,” we are also prepared to say something of the form 4 if not-p,
then q \ And this fact may us to exaggerate the difference between “v” and “or”
to think that, since in some cases, the fulfilment of one alternate is not a
sufficient condition of the truth of the alternative statement of which It is
an alternate, the fulfilment of one alternate is a sufficient condition of the
truth of an alternative statement. And this is certainly an exaggeration. If
someone says ; “Either it was John or it was Robert but I couldn't tell which,”
we are satisfied of the truth of the alternative statement if either of the
alternates turns out to be true; and we say that the speaker was wrong only if
neither turns out to be true. Here we seem to have a puzzle ; for we seem to be
saying that * Either it was John or it was Robert ' entails 4 If it wasn't
John, it was Robert * and, at the same time, that ‘It was John’ entails the
former, but not the latter. What we are suffering from here is perhaps a
crudity in our notion of entailraent, a difficulty In applying this too
undifferentiated concept to the facts of speech ; or, if we prefer it, an
ambiguity in the notion of a sufficient condition. The statement that it was John
entails the statement that it was either John or Robert in the sense thai it
confirms it; when It turns out to have been John, the man who said that either
It was John or it was Robert is shown to have been right. But the first
statement does not entail the second in the sense that the step ‘It was John,
so it was either John or Robert’ is a logically proper step, unless the person
saying this means by it simply that the alternative statement made previously
was correct, i.e., 'it was one of the two '. For the alternative statement
carries the implication of the speaker's uncertainty as to which of the two it
was, and this implication is inconsistent with the assertion that it was John.
So in this sense of * sufficient condition ', the statement that it was John is
no more a sufficient condition of (no more entails) the statement that it was
either John or Robert than it is a sufficient condition of (entails) the
statement that if it wasn't John, it was Robert. The further resemblance, which
we have already noticed, between the alternative statement and the hypothetical
statement, is that whatever knowledge or experience renders it reasonable to
assert the alternative statement, also renders it reasonable to make the
statement that (under the condition that it wasn't John) it was Robert. But we
are less happy about saying that the hypothetical statement is confirmed by the
discovery that it was John, than we are about saying that the alternative
statement is confirmed by this discovery. For we are inclined to say that the
question of confirmation of the hypothetical statement (as opposed to the
question of its reasonableness or acceptability) arises only if the condition
(that it wasn't John) turns out to be fulfilled. This shows an asymmetry, as
regards confirmation, though not as regards acceptability, between 4 if not p,
then q ' and * if not qy then p ' which is not mirrored in the forms ‘either p
or q’ and ‘either q or p.’ This asymmetry is ignored in the rule that * if not
p, then q ' and ‘if not q, then p’ are logically equivalent, for this rule
regards acceptability rather than confirmation. And rightly. For we may often
discuss the l truth ' of a subjunctive conditional, where the possibility of
confirmation is suggested by the form of words employed to be not envisaged. It
is a not unrelated difference between * if ' sentences and ‘or’ sentences that
whereas, whenever we use one of the latter, we should also be prepared to use
one of the former, the converse does not hold. The cases in which it does not
generally hold are those of subjunctive conditionals. There is no ‘or’ sentence
which would serve as a paraphrase of ‘If the Germans had invaded England in
1940, they would have won the war’ as this sentence would most commonly be
used. And this is connected with the fact that c either . . . or . . .' is
associated with situations involving choice or decision. 4 Either of these
roads leads to Oxford ' does not mean the same as ' Either this road leads to
Oxford or that road does’ ; but both confront us with the necessity of making a
choice. This brings us to a feature of * or ' which, unlike those so far
discussed, is commonly mentioned in discussion of its relation to * v ' ; the
fact, namely, that in certain verbal contexts, ‘either … or …’ plainly carries
the implication ‘and not both . . . and . . .', whereas in other contexts, it
does not. These are sometimes spoken of as, respectively, the exclusive and
inclusive senses of ‘or;’ and, plainly, if we are to identify 4 v’ with either,
it must be the latter. The reason why, unlike others, this feature of the
ordinary use of “or” is commonly mentioned, is that the difference can readily
be accommodated (1 Cf. footnote to p. 86.In the symbolism of the
truth-functional system: It is the difference between “(p y q) .~ (p . q)”
(exclusive sense) and “p v q” (inclusive sense). “Or,” like “and,” is commonly
used to join words and phrases as well as clauses. The 4 mutuality difficulties
attending the general expansion of 4 x and y are/ 5 into * x is /and y is/' do
not attend the expansion of 4 x or y isf into c r Is/or y is/ ? (This is not to
say that the expansion can always correctly be made. We may call “v” the
disjunctive sign and, being warned against taking the reading too seriously,
may read it as ‘or.' While he never approached the topic separately, it’s easy
to find remarks about disjunction in his oeuvre. A veritable genealogy of
disjunction can be traced along Griceian lines. Refs.: Grice uses an
illustration involving ‘or’ in the ‘implication’ excursus in “Causal Theory.”
But the systematic account comes from WoW, especially essay 4.
ditto: cf. verum. Grice disliked
Strawson’s ditto theory in Analysis of ‘true’ as admittive performatory. 1620s,
"in the month of the same name," Tuscan dialectal ditto "(in)
the said (month or year)," literary Italian detto, past participle of dire
"to say," from Latin dicere "speak, tell, say" (from PIE
root *deik- "to show," also "pronounce solemnly").
Italian used the word to avoid repetition of month names in a series of dates,
and in this sense it was picked up in English. Its generalized meaning of
"the aforesaid, the same thing, same as above" is attested in English
by 1670s. In early 19c. a suit of men's clothes of the same color and material
through was ditto or dittoes (1755). Dittohead, self-description of followers
of U.S. radio personality Rush Limbaugh, attested by 1995. dittoship is from
1869.
dossier: Grice’s favourite vacuous name is ‘Bellerophon.’ ‘Vacuous
names’ is an essay commissioned by Davison and Hintikka for Words and
objections: essays on the work of W. V. Quine (henceforth, W and O) for Reidel,
Dordrecht. “W and O” had appeared (without Grices contribution) as a special
issue of Synthese. Grices contribution, along with Quines Reply to Grice,
appeared only in the reprint of that special issue for Reidel in
Dordrecht. Grice cites from various philosophers (and logicians ‒
this was the time when logic was starting to be taught outside philosophy
departments, or sub-faculties), such as Mitchell, Myro, Mates, Donnellan, Strawson, Grice
was particularly proud to be able to quote Mates by mouth or book. Grice
takes the opportunity, in his tribute to Quine, to introduce one of two of his
syntactical devices to allow for conversational implicata to be given maximal
scope. The device in Vacuous Namess is a subscription device to indicate
the ordering of introduction of this or that operation. Grice wants to
give room for utterances of a special existential kind be deemed
rational/reasonable, provided the principle of conversational helfpulness is
thought of by the addressee to be followed by the utterer. Someone isnt
attending the party organised by the Merseyside Geographical Society. That
is Marmaduke Bloggs, who climbed Mt. Everest on hands and knees. But who,
as it happened, turned out to be an invention of the journalists at the
Merseyside Newsletter, “W and O,” vacuous name, identificatory use,
non-identificatory use, subscript device. Davidson and Hintikka were well aware
of the New-World impact of the Old-World ideas displayed by Grice and
Strawson in their attack to Quine. Quine had indeed addressed Grices and
Strawsons sophisticated version of the paradigm-case argument in Word and
Object. Davidson and Hintikka arranged to publish a special issue for a
periodical publication, to which Strawson had already contributed. It was only
natural, when Davidson and Hintikka were informed by Reidel of their interest
in turning the special issue into a separate volume, that they would approach
the other infamous member of the dynamic duo! Commissioned by Davidson and
Hintikka for “W and O.” Grice introduces a subscript device to account for
implicata of utterances like Marmaduke Bloggs won’t be attending the
party; he was invented by the journalists. In the later section, he
explores identificatory and non identificatory uses of the without involving
himself in the problems Donnellan did! Some philosophers, notably
Ostertag, have found the latter section the most intriguing bit, and thus
Ostertag cared to reprint the section on Descriptions for his edited MIT volume
on the topic. The essay is structured very systematically with an initial
section on a calculus alla Gentzen, followed by implicata of vacuous Namess
such as Marmaduke Bloggs, to end with definite descriptions, repr. in Ostertag,
and psychological predicates. It is best to focus on a few things here.
First his imaginary dialogues on Marmaduke Bloggs, brilliant! Second, this as a
preamble to his Presupposition and conversational implicature. There is a
quantifier phrase, the, and two uses of it: one is an identificatory use (the
haberdasher is clumsy, or THE haberdasher is clumsy, as Grice prefers) and then
theres a derived, non-identificatory use: the haberdasher (whoever she was! to
use Grices and Mitchells addendum) shows her clumsiness. The use of the numeric
subscripts were complicated enough to delay the publication of this. The whole
thing was a special issue of a journal. Grices contribution came when Reidel
turned that into a volume. Grice later replaced his numeric subscript device by
square brackets. Perhaps the square brackets are not subtle enough,
though. Grices contribution, Vacuous Namess, later repr. in part “Definite
descriptions,” ed. Ostertag, concludes with an exploration of the phrases, and
further on, with some intriguing remarks on the subtle issues surrounding the
scope of an ascription of a predicate standing for a psychological state or
attitude. Grices choice of an ascription now notably involves an
opaque (rather than factive, like know) psychological state or attitude:
wanting, which he symbolizes as W. At least Grice does not write,
really, for he knew that Austin detested a trouser word! Grice concludes that
(xi) and (xiii) will be derivable from each of (ix) and (x), while (xii) will
be derivable only from (ix).Grice had been Strawsons logic tutor at St. Johns (Mabbott
was teaching the grand stuff!) and it shows! One topic that especially
concerned Grice relates to the introduction and elimination rules, as he later
searches for generic satisfactoriness. Grice
wonders [W]hat should be said of Takeutis conjecture (roughly)
that the nature of the introduction rule determines the character of
the elimination rule? There seems to be
no particular problem about allowing an introduction rule which tells
us that, if it is established in Xs personalized system that φ, then it is
necessary with respect to X that φ is true (establishable). The accompanying
elimination rule is, however, slightly less promising. If we suppose such a
rule to tell us that, if one is committed to the idea that it is necessary with
respect to X that φ, then one is also committed to whatever is expressed by φ,
we shall be in trouble; for such a rule is not acceptable; φ will be a volitive
expression such as let it be that X eats his hat; and my commitment to the idea
that Xs system requires him to eat his hat does not ipso facto involve me in
accepting (buletically) let X eat his hat. But if we take the elimination rule
rather as telling us that, if it is necessary with respect to X that let X eat
his hat, then let X eat his hat possesses satisfactoriness-with-respect-to-X,
the situation is easier; for this version of the rule seems inoffensive, even
for Takeuti, we hope. A very interesting concept Grice introduces in the
definite-descriptor section of Vacuous Namess is that of a conversational dossier,
for which he uses δ for a definite descriptor. The key concept is that of
conversational dossier overlap, common ground, or conversational pool. Let us
say that an utterer U has a dossier for a definite description δ if there is a
set of definite descriptions which include δ, all the members of which the
utterer supposes to be satisfied by one and the same item and the utterer U
intends his addressee A to think (via the recognition that A is so intended)
that the utterer U has a dossier for the definite description δ which the
utterer uses, and that the utterer U has specifically selected (or chosen, or
picked) this specific δ from this dossier at least partly in the hope that his
addressee A has his own dossier for δ which overlaps the utterers dossier for δ,
viz. shares a substantial, or in some way specially favoured, su-bset with the
utterers dossier. Its unfortunate that the idea of a dossier is not better
known amog Oxonian philosophers. Unlike approaches to the phenomenon by other
Oxonian philosophers like Grices tutee Strawson and his three principles
(conversational relevance, presumption of conversational knowledge, and
presumption of conversational ignorance) or Urmson and his, apter than
Strawsons, principle of conversational appositeness (Mrs.Smiths husband just delivered
a letter, You mean the postman!?), only Grice took to task the idea of
formalising this in terms of set-theory and philosophical
psychology ‒ note his charming reference to the utterers hope (never
mind intention) that his choice of d from his dossier will overlap with some d
in the dossier of his his addressee. The point of adding whoever he may be for
the non-identificatory is made by Mitchell, of Worcester, in his Griceian
textbook for Hutchinson. Refs.: The main reference is Grice’s “Vacuous names,”
in “W and O” and its attending notes, BANC.
Ǝ Ǝx. The existential
quantifier. Cited by Grice as translatable by “some (at least one)”. Noting the
divergence that Strawson identified but fails to identify as a conversational
implicatum.
economy: and
effort. Grice would
often refer to ‘no undue effort,’ ‘no unnecessary trouble,’ to go into the
effort, ‘not worth the energy,’ and so on. These utilitarian criteria suggest
he is more of a futilitarian than the avowed Kantian he says he is. This Grice
also refers to as ‘maximum,’ ‘maximal,’ optimal. It is part of his principle of
economy of rational effort. Grice leaves it open as how to formulate this.
Notably in “Causal,” he allows that ‘The pillar box seems red” and “The pillar
box is red” are difficult to formalise in terms in which we legitimize the claim
or intuition that ‘The pillar box IS red” is ‘stronger’ than ‘The pillar box
seems red.’ If this were so, it would provide a rational justification for
going into the effort of uttering something STRONGER (and thus less economical,
and more effortful) under the circumstances. As in “My wife is in the kitchen or
in the bedroom, and the house has only two rooms (and no passages, etc.)” the
reason why the conversational implicatum is standardly carried is to be found
in the operation of some such general principle as that giving preference to
the making of a STRONGER rather than a weaker statement in the absence of a
reason for not so doing. The implicatum therefore is not of a part of the
meaning of the expression “seems.” There is however A VERY IMPORTANT DIFFERENCE
between the case of a ‘phenomenalist’ statement (Bar-Hillel it does not count
as a statement) and that of disjunctives, such as “My wife is in the kitchen or
ind the bedroom, and the house has only two rooms (and no passages, etc.).” A
disjunctive is weaker than either of its disjuncts in a straightforward LOGICAL
fashion, viz., a disjunctive is entailed (alla Moore) by, but does not entail,
each of its disjuncts. The statement “The pillar box is red” is NOT STRONGER
than the statement, if a statement it is, “The pillar box seems red,” in this
way. Neither statement entails the other. Grice thinks that he has,
neverthcless a strong inclination to regard the first of these statements as
STRONGER than the second. But Grice leaves it open the ‘determination’ of in
what fashion this might obtain. He suggests that there may be a way to provide
a reductive analysis of ‘strength’ THAT YIELDS that “The pillar box is red” is
a stronger conversational contribution than “The pillar box seems red.”
Recourse to ‘informativeness’ may not do, since Grice is willing to generalise
over the acceptum to cover informative and non-informative cases. While there
is an element of ‘exhibition’ in his account of the communicatum, he might not
be happy with the idea that it is the utterer’s INTENTION to INFORM his
addressee that he, the utterer, INTENDS that his addressee will believe that
he, the utterer, believes that it is raining. “Inform” seems to apply only to
the content of the propositional complexum, and not to the attending ‘animata.’
egcrateia: or temperantia. Cfr mesotes. the geniality of Grice was to explore theoretical akrasia. Grice’s
genius shows in seeing egcrateia and lack thereof as marks of virtue. “C hasn’t
been to prison yet” He is potentially dishonest. But you cannot be HONEST if
you are NOT potentially DISHONEST. Of course, it does not paint a good picture
of the philosopher why he should be obsessed with ‘akrasia,’ when Aristotle
actually opposed the notion to that of ‘enkrateia,’ or ‘continence.’ Surely a
philosopher needs to provide a reductive analysis of ‘continence,’ first; and
the reductive analysis of ‘incontinence’ will follow. Aristotle, as Grice well
knew, is being a Platonist here, so by ‘continence,’ he meant a power structure
of the soul, with the ‘rational’ soul containing the pre-rational or
non-rational soul (animal soul, and vegetal soul). And right he was, too! So, Grice's twist is Έγκράτεια, sic in capitals! Liddell and Scott has it as
‘ἐγκράτεια’ [ρα^], which they render as “mastery over,” as used by Plato in
The Republic: “ἐ. ἑαυτοῦ,” meaning ‘self-control’ (Pl. R.390b; ἐ. ἡδονῶν καὶ ἐπιθυμιῶν control over them, ib.430e, cf. X.Mem.2.1.1, Isoc.1.21; “περί τι” Arist.EN1149a21, al. Liddell
and Scott go on to give a reference to Grice’s beloved “Eth. Nich.” (1145b8) II. abs., self-control, X. Mem.1.5.1, Isoc.3.44, Arist. EN. 1145b8, al., LXX Si.18.30, Act.Ap. 24.25, etc. Richards, an emotivist, as well as Collingwood (in
“Language”) had made a stereotype of the physicist drawing a formula on the
blackboard. “Full of emotion.” So the idea that there is an UN-emotional life
is a fallacy. Emotion pervades the rational life, as does akrasia. Grice was
particularly irritated by the fact that Davidson, who lacked a background in
the humanities and the classics, could think of akrasia as “impossible”! Grice
was never too interested in emotion (or feeling) because while we do say I feel
that the cat is hungry, we also say, Im feeling byzantine. The concept of
emotion needs a philosophical elucidation. Grice was curious about a linguistic
botany for that! Akrasia for Grice covers both buletic-boulomaic and doxastic
versions. The buletic-boulomaic version may be closer to the concept of an
emotion. Grice quotes from Kennys essay on emotion. But Grice is looking for
more of a linguistic botany. As it happens, Kennys essay has Griceian
implicata. One problem Grice finds with emotion is that feel that sometimes behaves like thinks that Another is that there is no good Grecian word
for emotio. Kenny, of St. Benets, completed his essay on emotion under
Quinton (who would occasionally give seminars with Grice), and examined by two
members of Grices Play Group: Pears and Gardiner. Kenny connects an emotion to a
feeling, which brings us to Grice on feeling boringly byzantine! Grice proposes
a derivation of akrasia in conditional steps for both buletic-boulomaic and
doxastic akrasia. Liddell and Scott have
“ἐπιθυμία,” which they render as desire, yearning, “ἐ. ἐκτελέσαι” Hdt.1.32;
ἐπιθυμίᾳ by passion, oπρονοίᾳ, generally, appetite, αἱ κατὰ τὸ σῶμα ἐ. esp.
sexual desire, lust, αἱ πρὸς τοὺς παῖδας ἐ.; longing after a thing, desire of
or for it, ὕδατος, τοῦ πιεῖν;” “τοῦ πλέονος;” “τῆς τιμωρίας;” “τῆς μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν
πολιτείας;’ “τῆς παρθενίας;’ “εἰς ἐ. τινὸς ἐλθεῖν;’ ἐν ἐ. “τινὸς εἶναι;’
“γεγονέναι;” “εἰς ἐ. τινὸς “ἀφικέσθαι θεάσασθαι;” “ἐ. τινὸς ἐμβαλεῖν τινί;” “ἐ.
ἐμποιεῖν ἔς τινα an inclination towards;” =ἐπιθύμημα, object of desire,
ἐπιθυμίας τυχεῖν;” “ἀνδρὸς ἐ., of woman, “πενήτων ἐ., of sleep. There must be
more to emotion, such as philia, than epithumia! cf. Grice on Aristotle on
philos. What is an emotion? Aristotle, Rhetoric II.1; Konstan “Pathos and
Passion” R. Roberts, “Emotion”; W. Fortenbaugh, Aristotle on Emotion; Simo
Knuuttila, Emotions in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy. Aristotle, Rhet.
II.2-12; De An., Eth.N., and Top.; Emotions in Plato and Aristotle; Philosophy
of Emotion; Aristotle and the Emotions, De An. II.12 and III 1-3; De Mem. 1;
Rhet. II.5; Scheiter, “Images, Imagination, and Appearances, V. Caston, Why
Aristotle Needs Imagination” M. Nussbaum, “Aristotle on Emotions and Rational
Persuasion, J. Cooper, “An Aristotelian Theory of Emotion, G. Striker, Emotions
in Context: Aristotles Treatment of the Passions in the Rhetoric and his Moral
Psychology." Essays on Aristotles Rhetoric (J. Dow, Aristotles Theory of
the Emotions, Moral Psychology and Human Action in Aristotle PLATO. Aristotle,
Rhetoric I.10-11; Plato Philebus 31b-50e and Republic IV, D. Frede, Mixed
feelings in Aristotles Rhetoric." Essays on Aristotles Rhetoric, J. Moss,
“Pictures and Passions in Plato”; Protagoras 352b-c, Phaedo 83b-84a, Timaeus 69c
STOICS The Hellenistic philosophers; “The Old Stoic Theory of Emotion” The
Emotions in Hellenistic Philosophy, eEmotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic
Agitation to Christian Temptation, Sorabji, Chrysippus Posidonius Seneca: A High-Level
Debate on Emotion. Nussbaum, The Therapy of Desire: Theory and Practice in
Hellenistic Ethics M. Graver, Preface and Introduction to Cicero on Emotion:
Tusculan Disputations 3 and 4 M. Graver, Stoicism and emotion. Tusculan
Disputations 3 Recommended: Graver, Margaret. "Philo of Alexandria and the
Origins of the Stoic Προπάθειαι." Phronesis. Tusculan Disputations; "The
Stoic doctrine of the affections of the soul; The Stoic life: Emotions, duties,
and fate”; Emotion and decision in stoic psychology, The stoics, individual
emotions: anger, friendly feeling, and hatred. Aristotle Rhetoric II.2-3;
Nicomachean Ethics IV.5; Topics 2.7 and 4.5; Konstan, Anger, Pearson, Aristotle
on Desire; Scheiter, Review of Pearsons Aristotle on Desire; S. Leighton,
Aristotles Account of Anger: Narcissism and Illusions of Self‐Sufficiency: The Complex Evaluative World of Aristotles Angry
Man,” Valuing emotions. Aristotle Rhetoric II. 4; Konstan, “Hatred”
Konstan "Aristotle on Anger and the Emotions: the Strategies of
Status." Ancient Anger: Perspectives from Homer to Galen, C. Rapp, The
emotional dimension of friendship: notes on Aristotles account of philia in
Rhetoric II 4” Grice endeavours to give an answer to the question whether
and to what extent philia (friendship), as it is treated by Aristotle in Rhet.
II.4, can be considered a genuine emotion as, for example, fear and anger are.
Three anomalies are identified in the definition and the account of philia (and
of the associated verb philein), which suggest a negative response to the
question. However, these anomalies are analysed and explained in terms of the
specific notes of philia in order to show that Rhetoric II4 does allow for a
consideration of friendship as a genuine emotion. Seneca, On Anger (De
Ira) Seneca, On Anger Seneca, On Anger (62-96); K. Vogt, “Anger, Present
Injustice, and Future Revenge in Senecas De Ira” FEAR Aristotle, Rhet. II.5;
Nicomachean Ethics III.6-9 Aristotles Courageous Passions, Platos Laws;
“Pleasure, Pain, and Anticipation in Platos Laws, Book I” Konstan, “Fear”
PITY Aristotle, Rhetoric II. 8-9; Poetics, chs. 6, 9-19 ; Konstan, “Pity”
E. Belfiore, Tragic pleasures: Aristotle on plot and emotion, Konstan,
Aristotle on the Tragic Emotions, The Soul of Tragedy: Essays on Athenian
Drama SHAME Aristotle, Rhet. II.6; Nicomachean Ethics IV.9 Konstan, Shame
J. Moss, Shame, Pleasure, and the Divided Soul, B. Williams, Shame and
Necessity. Aristotle investigates two character traits, continence and
incontinence, that are not as blameworthy as the vices but not as praiseworthy
as the virtues. The Grecian expressions are’enkrateia,’ continence, literally
mastery, and krasia (“incontinence”; literally, lack of mastery. An akratic
person goes against reason as a result of some pathos (emotion, feeling”). Like
the akratic, an enkratic person experiences a feeling that is contrary to
reason; but unlike the akratic, he acts in accordance with reason. His defect
consists solely in the fact that, more than most people, he experiences
passions that conflict with his rational choice. The akratic person has not only
this defect, but has the further flaw that he gives in to feeling rather than
reason more often than the average person.
Aristotle distinguishes two kinds of akrasia: “propeteia,” or
impetuosity and “astheneia, or weakness. The person who is weak goes through a
process of deliberation and makes a choice; but rather than act in accordance
with his reasoned choice, he acts under the influence of a passion. By
contrast, the impetuous person does not go through a process of deliberation
and does not make a reasoned choice; he simply acts under the influence of a
passion. At the time of action, the impetuous person experiences no internal
conflict. But once his act has been completed, he regrets what he has done. One
could say that he deliberates, if deliberation were something that post-dated
rather than preceded action; but the thought process he goes through after he
acts comes too late to save him from error.
It is important to bear in mind that when Aristotle talks about
impetuosity and weakness, he is discussing chronic conditions. The impetuous
person is someone who acts emotionally and fails to deliberate not just once or
twice but with some frequency; he makes this error more than most people do.
Because of this pattern in his actions, we would be justified in saying of the
impetuous person that had his passions not prevented him from doing so, he
would have deliberated and chosen an action different from the one he did
perform. The two kinds of passions that
Aristotle focuses on, in his treatment of akrasia, are the appetite for
pleasure and anger. Either can lead to impetuosity and weakness. But Aristotle
gives pride of place to the appetite for pleasure as the passion that
undermines reason. He calls the kind of akrasia caused by an appetite for pleasure
(hedone) “unqualified akrasia”—or, as we might say, akrasia simpliciter, “full
stop.’ Akrasia caused by anger he considers a qualified form of akrasia and
calls it akrasia ‘with respect to anger.’ We thus have these four forms of
akrasia: impetuosity caused by pleasure, impetuosity caused by anger, weakness
caused by pleasure, weakness caused by anger. It should be noticed that
Aristotle’s treatment of akrasia is heavily influenced by Plato’s tripartite
division of the soul. Plato holds that either the spirited part (which houses
anger, as well as other emotions) or the appetitive part (which houses the
desire for physical pleasures) can disrupt the dictates of reason and result in
action contrary to reason. The same threefold division of the soul can be seen
in Aristotles approach to this topic. Although Aristotle characterizes akrasia
and enkrateia in terms of a conflict between reason and feeling, his detailed
analysis of these states of mind shows that what takes place is best described
in a more complicated way. For the feeling that undermines reason contains some
thought, which may be implicitly general. As Aristotle says, anger “reasoning
as it were that one must fight against such a thing, is immediately provoked.
And although in the next sentence he denies that our appetite for pleasure
works in this way, he earlier had said that there can be a syllogism that
favors pursuing enjoyment: “Everything sweet is pleasant, and this is sweet”
leads to the pursuit of a particular pleasure. Perhaps what he has in mind is
that pleasure can operate in either way: it can prompt action unmediated by a
general premise, or it can prompt us to act on such a syllogism. By contrast,
anger always moves us by presenting itself as a bit of general, although hasty,
reasoning. But of course Aristotle does
not mean that a conflicted person has more than one faculty of reason. Rather
his idea seems to be that in addition to our full-fledged reasoning capacity,
we also have psychological mechanisms that are capable of a limited range of
reasoning. When feeling conflicts with reason, what occurs is better described
as a fight between feeling-allied-with-limited-reasoning and full-fledged
reason. Part of us—reason—can remove itself from the distorting influence of
feeling and consider all relevant factors, positive and negative. But another
part of us—feeling or emotion—has a more limited field of reasoning—and
sometimes it does not even make use of it.
Although “passion” is sometimes used as a translation of Aristotles word
pathos (other alternatives are emotion” and feeling), it is important to bear
in mind that his term does not necessarily designate a strong psychological
force. Anger is a pathos whether it is weak or strong; so too is the appetite
for bodily pleasures. And he clearly indicates that it is possible for an
akratic person to be defeated by a weak pathos—the kind that most people would
easily be able to control. So the general explanation for the occurrence of
akrasia cannot be that the strength of a passion overwhelms reason. Aristotle
should therefore be acquitted of an accusation made against him by Austin in a
well-known footnote to ‘A Plea For Excuses.’ Plato and Aristotle, Austin says,
collapsed all succumbing to temptation into losing control of ourselves — a
mistake illustrated by this example. I am very partial to ice cream, and a
bombe is served divided into segments corresponding one to one with the persons
at High Table. I am tempted to help myself to two segments and do so, thus
succumbing to temptation and even conceivably (but why necessarily?) going
against my principles. But do I lose control of myself? Do I raven, do I snatch
the morsels from the dish and wolf them down, impervious to the consternation
of my colleagues? Not a bit of it. We often succumb to temptation with calm and
even with finesse. With this, Aristotle can agree. The pathos for the bombe can
be a weak one, and in some people that will be enough to get them to act in a
way that is disapproved by their reason at the very time of action. What is most remarkable about Aristotle’s
discussion of akrasia is that he defends a position close to that of Socrates.
When he first introduces the topic of akrasia, and surveys some of the problems
involved in understanding this phenomenon, he says that Socrates held that
there is no akrasia, and he describes this as a thesis that clearly conflicts
with the appearances (phainomena). Since he says that his goal is to preserve
as many of the appearances as possible, it may come as a surprise that when he
analyzes the conflict between reason and feeling, he arrives at the conclusion
that in a way Socrates was right after all. For, he says, the person who acts
against reason does not have what is thought to be unqualified knowledge; in a
way he has knowledge, but in a way does not.
Aristotle explains what he has in mind by comparing akrasia to the
condition of other people who might be described as knowing in a way, but not
in an unqualified way. His examples are people who are asleep, mad, or drunk; he
also compares the akratic to a student who has just begun to learn a Subjects,
or an actor on the stage. All of these people, he says, can utter the very
words used by those who have knowledge; but their talk does not prove that they
really have knowledge, strictly speaking.
These analogies can be taken to mean that the form of akrasia that
Aristotle calls weakness rather than impetuosity always results from some
diminution of cognitive or intellectual acuity at the moment of action. The
akratic says, at the time of action, that he ought not to indulge in this
particular pleasure at this time. But does he know or even believe that he
should refrain? Aristotle might be taken to reply: yes and no. He has some
degree of recognition that he must not do this now, but not full recognition.
His feeling, even if it is weak, has to some degree prevented him from
completely grasping or affirming the point that he should not do this. And so
in a way Socrates was right. When reason remains unimpaired and unclouded, its
dictates will carry us all the way to action, so long as we are able to
act. But Aristotles agreement with
Socrates is only partial, because he insists on the power of the emotions to
rival, weaken or bypass reason. Emotion challenges reason in all three of these
ways. In both the akratic and the enkratic, it competes with reason for control
over action; even when reason wins, it faces the difficult task of having to
struggle with an internal rival. Second, in the akratic, it temporarily robs
reason of its full acuity, thus handicapping it as a competitor. It is not
merely a rival force, in these cases; it is a force that keeps reason from
fully exercising its power. And third, passion can make someone impetuous; here
its victory over reason is so powerful that the latter does not even enter into
the arena of conscious reflection until it is too late to influence action.
That, at any rate, is one way of interpreting Aristotle’s statements. But it
must be admitted that his remarks are obscure and leave room for alternative
readings. It is possible that when he denies that the akratic has knowledge in
the strict sense, he is simply insisting on the point that no one should be
classified as having practical knowledge unless he actually acts in accordance
with it. A practical knower is not someone who merely has knowledge of general
premises; he must also have knowledge of particulars, and he must actually draw
the conclusion of the syllogism. Perhaps drawing such a conclusion consists in
nothing less than performing the action called for by the major and minor
premises. Since this is something the akratic does not do, he lacks knowledge;
his ignorance is constituted by his error in action. On this reading, there is
no basis for attributing to Aristotle the thesis that the kind of akrasia he
calls weakness is caused by a diminution of intellectual acuity. His
explanation of akrasia is simply that pathos is sometimes a stronger
motivational force than full-fledged reason.
This is a difficult reading to defend, however, for Aristotle says that
after someone experiences a bout of akrasia his ignorance is dissolved and he
becomes a knower again. In context, that appears to be a remark about the form
of akrasia Aristotle calls weakness rather than impetuosity. If so, he is
saying that when an akratic person is Subjects to two conflicting
influences—full-fledged reason versus the minimal rationality of emotion—his
state of knowledge is somehow temporarily undone but is later restored. Here,
knowledge cannot be constituted by the performance of an act, because that is
not the sort of thing that can be restored at a later time. What can be
restored is ones full recognition or affirmation of the fact that this act has
a certain undesirable feature, or that it should not be performed. Aristotle’s
analysis seems to be that both forms of akrasia — weakness and impetuosity
—share a common structure: in each case, ones full affirmation or grasp of what
one should do comes too late. The difference is that in the case of weakness but
not impetuosity, the akratic act is preceded by a full-fledged rational
cognition of what one should do right now. That recognition is briefly and
temporarily diminished by the onset of a less than fully rational affect. There is one other way in which Aristotle’s
treatment of akrasia is close to the Socratic thesis that what people call
akrasia is really ignorance. Aristotle holds that if one is in the special
mental condition that he calls practical wisdom, then one cannot be, nor will
one ever become, an akratic person. For practical wisdom is present only in
those who also possess the ethical virtues, and these qualities require
complete emotional mastery. Anger and appetite are fully in harmony with
reason, if one is practically wise, and so this intellectual virtue is
incompatible with the sort of inner conflict experienced by the akratic person.
Furthermore, one is called practically wise not merely on the basis of what one
believes or knows, but also on the basis of what one does. Therefore, the sort
of knowledge that is lost and regained during a bout of akrasia cannot be
called practical wisdom. It is knowledge only in a loose sense. The low-level
grasp of the ordinary person of what to do is precisely the sort of thing that
can lose its acuity and motivating power, because it was never much of an
intellectual accomplishment to begin with. That is what Aristotle is getting at
when he compares it with the utterances of actors, students, sleepers, drunks,
and madmen. Grice had witnessed how Hare had suffere to try and deal with how
to combine the geniality that “The language of morals” is with his account of
akrasia. Most Oxonians were unhappy with Hares account of akrasia. Its like, in
deontic logic, you cannot actually deal with akrasia. You need buletics. You
need the desiderative, so that you can oppose what is desired with the duty,
even if both concepts are related. “Akrasia” has a nice Grecian touch about it,
and Grice and Hare, as Lit. Hum., rejoiced in being able to explore what
Aristotle had to say about it. They wouldnt go far beyond Aristotle. Plato and
Aristotle were the only Greek philosophers studied for the Lit. Hum. To venture
with the pre-socratics or the hellenistics (even if Aristotle is one) was not
classy enough! Like Pears in Motivated irrationality, Grice allows that
benevolentia may be deemed beneficentia. If Smith has the good will to give
Jones a job, he may be deemed to have given Jones the job, even if Jones never
get it. In buletic akrasia we must consider the conclusion to be desiring what
is not best for the agents own good, never mind if he refrains from doing what
is not best for his own good. Video meliora proboque deteriora sequor. We
shouldnt be saying this, but we are saying it! Grice prefers akrasia, but
he is happy to use the translation by Cicero, also negative, of this:
incontinentia, as if continentia were a virtue! For Grice, the alleged paradox
of akrasia, both alethic and practical, has to be accounted for by a theory of
rationality from the start, and not be deemed a stumbling block. Grice is
interested in both the common-or-garden buletic-boulomaic version of akrasia,
involving the volitive soul ‒ in term of desirability ‒ and doxastic
akrasia, involing the judicative soul proper ‒ in terms of
probability. Grice considers buletic akrasia and doxastic akrasia ‒ the latter
yet distinct from Moores paradox, p but I dont want to believe that p, in
symbols p and ~ψb-dp. Akarsia,
see egcrateia. Refs.: The main references here are in three folders in two
different series. H. P. Grice, “Akrasia,” The H. P. Grice Papers, S. II, c.
2-ff. 22-23 and S. V, c. 6-f. 32, BANC.
Emissor.
Grice’s utterer, but turned Griceian, To emit, to translate some Gricism or
other. Cf. proffer.
emissor-emissum
distinction. Frequently ignored by Austin. Grice usually formulates it
‘roughly.’ Strawson for some reason denied the reducibility of the emissum to
the emissor. Vide his footnote in his Inaugural lecture at Oxford. it is a truth
implicitly acknowledged by communication theorists themselves -- this
acknowledgement is is certainly implicit in Grice's distinction between what
speakers actually say, in a favored sense of 'say', and what they imply (see
"Utterer's Meaning, SentenceMeaning and Word-Meaning," in Foundations
of Language, 1968) -- that in almost all the things we should count as
sentences there is a substantial central core of meaning which is explicable
either in terms of truth-conditions or in terms of some related notion quite
simply derivable from that of a truth-condition, for example the notion, as we
might call it, of a compliance condition in the case of an imperative sentence
or a fulfillment-condition in the case of an optative. If we suppose,
therefore, that an account can be given of the notion of a truthcondition
itself, an account which is indeed independent of reference to
communicationintention, then we may reasonably think that the greater part of
the task of a general theory of meaning has been accomplished without such
reference. So let us see if we can rephrase the distinction for a one-off
predicament. By drawing a skull, Blackburn communicates to his fellow
Pembrokite that there is danger around. The proposition is ‘There is danger
around’. Of the claims, one is literal; the other metabolical. Blackburn means
that there is danger around. Blackburn communicates that there is danger
around, possibly leading to death. The emissum, Blackburn’s drawing of the
skull ‘means’ that there is danger around. Since the fact that Blackburn
communicates that p is diaphanous, we have yet another way of posing the
distinction: Blackburn communicates that there is danger around. What is
communicated by Blackburn – his emissum – is true. Note that in this diaphanous
change from ‘Blackburn communicates that there is danger around’ and ‘What
Blackburn communicates, viz. that there is danger around, is true’ we have progressed
quite a bit. There are ways of involving ‘true’ in the first stage. Blackburn
communicates that there is danger around, and he communicates something true.
In the classical languages, this is done in the accusative case.
emit. A good verb used by Grice. It gives us ‘emitter, and it is
more Graeco-Roman than his ‘utterer,’ which Cicero would think a barbarism.
emotion: The emotum, the motum. Grice enjoyed a bit of history of
philosophy. Cf. conatum. And Urmson’s company helped. Urmson produced a
brilliant study of the ‘emotive’ theory of ethics, which is indeed linguistic
and based on Ogden. Diog. Laert. of Zeno of Citium. πρὸς τὸν εἰπόντα,
"πολλοί σου καταγελῶσιν," "ἀλλ ἐγώ," ἔφη, "οὐ κατα-
γελῶμαι; to the question, who is a friend?, Zeno’s answer is, ‘a second self
(alter ego). One direct way to approach friend is via emotion, as
Aristotle did, and found it aporetic as did Grice. Aristotle discusses philia
in Eth. Nich. but it is in Rhet. where he allows for phulia to be an emotion.
Grice was very fortunate to have Hardie as his tutor. He overused Hardies
lectures on Aristotle, too, and instilled them on his own tutees! Grice is
concerned with the rather cryptic view by Aristotle of the friend (philos,
amicus) as the alter ego. In Grices cooperative, concerted, view of
things, a friend in need is a friend indeed! Grice is interested in Aristotle
finding himself in an aporia. In Nicomachean Ethics IX.ix, Aristotle poses the
question whether the happy man will need friends or not. Kosman correctly
identifies this question as asking not whether friends are necessary in order
to achieve eudæmonia, but why we require friends even when we are happy. The
question is not why we need friends to become happy, but why we need friends
when we are happy, since the eudæmon must be self-sufficient. Philia is
required for the flourishing of the life of practical virtue. The solution by
Aristotle to the aporia here, however, points to the requirement of friendships
even for the philosopher, in his life of theoretical virtue. The olution by
Aristotle to the aporia in Nicomachean Ethics IX.ix is opaque, and the corresponding
passage in Eudeiman Ethics VII.xii is scarcely better. Aristotle thinks he has
found the solution to this aporia. We must take two things into consideration,
that life is desirable and also that the good is, and thence that it is
desirable that such a nature should belong to oneself as it belongs to them. If
then, of such a pair of corresponding s. there is always one s. of the
desirable, and the known and the perceived are in general constituted by their
participation in the nature of the determined, so that to wish to perceive ones
self is to wish oneself to be of a certain definite character,—since, then we
are not in ourselves possessed of each such characters, but only in
participation in these qualities in perceiving and knowing—for the perceiver
becomes perceived in that way in respect in which he first perceives, and
according to the way in which and the object which he perceives; and the knower
becomes known in the same way— therefore it is for this reason that one always
desires to live, because one always desires to know; and this is because he
himself wishes to be the object known. Refs.: There is an essay on “Emotions
and akrasia,” but the topic is scattered in various places, such as Grice’s
reply to Davidson on intending. Grice has an essay on ‘Kant and friendship,’
too, The H. P. Grice Papers, BANC.
entailment: “Paradoxes of entailment,” “Paradoxes of implication.”
Philo and his teacher. Grice is not sure about ‘implicatum.’ The quote by Moore, 1919 being:"It might be suggested
that we should say "p ent q" 'means' "p ) q AND this proposition
is an instance of a formal implication, which is not merely true but
self-evident, like the laws of formal logic." This proposed definitions
would avoid the paradoxes involved in Strachey's definition, since such true
formal implications as 'All the persons in this room are more than five years
old' are certainly not self-evident; and, so far as I can see, it may state
something which is in fact true of p and q, whenever and only whenp ent q. I do
not myself think that it gives the meaning of 'p ent q,' since the kind of
relation which I see to hold between the premises and
a conclusion of a syllogism seems to me one
which is purely 'objective' in the sense that no psychological term, such as is
involved in the meaning of 'self-evident' is
involved in its definition (it it has one). I am not, however, concerned to
dispute that some such definition of "p ent q" as this may be
true." --- and so on. So, it is apparently all Strachey's fault. This view as to
what φA . ent . ψA means has, for instance, if I understand him rightly, been
asserted by Mr. O. Strachey in Mind, N.S., 93; since he asserts that, in his
opinion, this is what Professor C. I. Lewis means by “φA strictly implies ψA,”
and undoubtedly what Professor Lewis means by this is what I mean by φA . ent .
ψA. And the same view has been frequently suggested (though I do not know that
he has actually asserted it) by Mr. Russell himself (e.g., Principia
Mathematica, p. 21). I 1903 B. Russell Princ. Math. ii. 14 How far formal
implication is definable in terms of implication simply, or material
implication as it may be called, is a difficult question. Source :
Principles : Chapter III. Implication and Formal Implication. – Source :
Principia, page 7 : "When it is necessary explicitly to discriminate
"implication" [i.e. "if p, then q" ] from "formal
implication," it is called "material implication." – Source :
Principia, page 20 : "When an implication, say ϕx.⊃.ψx, is said to hold always, i.e. when (x):ϕx.⊃.ψx, we shall say that ϕx formally implies ψx"Many logicians did use ‘implicatum’ not necessarily to mean
‘conversational implicatum,’ but as the result of ‘implicatio’. ‘Implicatio’
was often identified with the Megarian or Philonian ‘if.’ Why? thought that we
probably did need an entailment. The symposium was held in New York with Dana
Scott and R. K. Meyer. The notion had been mis-introduced (according to
Strawson) in the philosophical literature by Moore. Grice is especially
interested in the entailment + implicatum pair. A philosophical expression may
be said to be co-related to an entailment (which is rendered in terms of a
reductive analysis). However, the use of the expression may co-relate to
this or that implicatum which is rendered reasonable in the light of the assumption
by the addressee that the utterer is ultimately abiding by a principle of
conversational helfpulness. Grice thinks many philosophers take an implicatum
as an entailment when they surely shouldnt! Grice was more interested than
Strawson was in the coinage by Moore of entailment for logical consequence. As
an analyst, Grice knew that a true conceptual analysis needs to be reductive
(if not reductionist). The prongs the analyst lists are thus entailments of the
concept in question. Philosophers, however, may misidentify what is an
entailment for an implicature, or vice versa. Initially, Grice was interested
in the second family of cases. With his coinage of disimplicature, Grice expands
his interest to cover the first family of cases, too. Grice remains a
philosophical methodologist. He is not so much concerned with any area or
discipline or philosophical concept per se (unless its rationality), but with
the misuses of some tools in the philosophy of language as committed by some of
his colleagues at Oxford. While entailment, was, for Strawson mis-introduced in
the philosophical literature by Moore, entailment seems to be less involved in
paradoxes than if is. Grice connects the two, as indeed his tutee Strawson did!
As it happens, Strawsons Necessary propositions and entailment statements is
his very first published essay, with Mind, a re-write of an unpublication
unwritten elsewhere, and which Grice read. The relation of consequence may be
considered a meta-conditional, where paradoxes arise. Grices Bootstrap is
a principle designed to impoverish the metalanguage so that the philosopher can
succeed in the business of pulling himself up by his own! Grice then takes a
look at Strawsons very first publication (an unpublication he had written
elsewhere). Grice finds Strawson thought he could provide a simple solution to
the so-called paradoxes of entailment. At the time, Grice and Strawson were
pretty sure that nobody then accepted, if indeed anyone ever did and did make,
the identification of the relation symbolised by the horseshoe with the
relation which Moore calls entailment, p⊃q,
i. e. ~(pΛ~q) is rejected as an analysis of p entails q because it involves
this or that allegedly paradoxical implicatum, as that any false proposition
entails any proposition and any true proposition is entailed by any
proposition. It is a commonplace that Lewiss amendment had consequences
scarcely less paradoxical in terms of the implicata. For if p is impossible,
i.e. self-contradictory, it is impossible that p and ~q. And if q is
necessary, ~q is impossible and it is impossible that p and ~q; i. e., if p
entails q means it is impossible that p and ~q any necessary proposition is
entailed by any proposition and any self-contradictory proposition entails any
proposition. On the other hand, Lewiss definition of entailment (i.e. of the
relation which holds from p to q whenever q is deducible from p) obviously
commends itself in some respects. Now, it is clear that the emphasis laid on
the expression-mentioning character of the intensional contingent statement by
writing pΛ~q is impossible instead of It is impossible that p and ~q does not
avoid the alleged paradoxes of entailment. But it is equally clear that the
addition of some provision does avoid them. One may proposes that one
should use “entails” such that no necessary statement and no negation of a
necessary statement can significantly be said to entail or be entailed by any
statement; i. e. the function p entails q cannot take necessary or
self-contradictory statements as arguments. The expression p entails q is to be
used to mean p⊃q is necessary, and neither p nor q is either necessary or
self-contradictory, or pΛ~q is impossible and neither p nor q, nor either of
their contradictories, is necessary. Thus, the paradoxes are avoided. For let
us assume that p1 expresses a contingent, and q1 a necessary, proposition. p1
and ~q1 is now impossible because ~q1 is impossible. But q1 is necessary. So,
by that provision, p1 does not entail q1. We may avoid the paradoxical
assertion that p1 entails q2 as merely falling into the equally paradoxical
assertion that p1 entails q1 is necessary. For: If q is necessary, q is
necessary is, though true, not necessary, but a contingent intensional
(Latinate) statement. This becomes part of the philosophers lexicon: intensĭo,
f. intendo, which L and S render as a stretching out, straining, effort.
E. g. oculorum, Scrib. Comp. 255. Also an intensifying, increase. Calorem suum
(sol) intensionibus ac remissionibus temperando fovet,” Sen. Q. N. 7, 1, 3. The
tune: “gravis, media, acuta,” Censor. 12. Hence:~(q is necessary) is,
though false, possible. Hence “p1Λ~(q1 is necessary)” is, though false,
possible. Hence p1 does NOT entail q1 is necessary. Thus, by adopting the view
that an entailment statement, and other intensional statements, are
non-necessary, and that no necessary statement or its contradictory can entail
or be entailed by any statement, Strawson thinks he can avoid the paradox that
a necessary proposition is entailed by any proposition, and indeed all the
other associated paradoxes of entailment. Grice objected that Strawsons cure
was worse than Moores disease! The denial that a necessary proposition can
entail or be entailed by any proposition, and, therefore, that necessary
propositions can be related to each other by the entailment-relation, is too
high a price to pay for the solution of the paradoxes. And here is where Grices
implicature is meant to do the trick! Or not! When Levinson proposed + for
conversationally implicature, he is thinking of contrasting it with ⊢. But things aint that easy.
Even the grammar is more complicated: By uttering He is an adult, U explicitly
conveys that he is an adult. What U explicitly conveys entails that he is not a
child. What U implies is that he should be treated accordingly. Refs.: One
good reference is the essay on “Paradoxes of entailment,” in the Grice papers;
also his contribution to a symposium for the APA under a separate series, The
H. P. Grice Papers, BANC.
eschatology: Why ontology is not enough. The philosopher needs to PLAY
with cross-categorial barriers. He is an eschatologist. Socrates was. being and
good, for Aristotle and Grice cover all. Good was a favourite of Moore and
Hare, as Barnes was well aware! Like Barnes, Grice dislikes Prichards analysis
of good. He leans towards the emotion-based approach by Ogden. If Grice, like Humpty
Dumpty, opposes the Establishment with his meaning liberalism (what a word
means is what I mean by uttering it), he certainly should be concerned with
category shifts. Plus, Grice was a closet Platonist. As Plato once remarked,
having the ability to see horses but not horsehood (ἱππότης) is a mark of stupidity – rendered by Liddell and Scott as “horse-nature, the
concept of horse” (Antisth. et Pl. ap. Simp.in Cat.208.30,32,
Sch.AristId.p.167F). Grice would endure the flinty
experience of giving joint seminars at Oxford with Austin on the first two
books of Aristotles Organon, Categoriae, and De Int. Grice finds the use of a
category, κατηγορία, by Aristotle a bit of a geniality. Aristotle is using
legalese, from kata, against, on, and agoreuô [ἀγορεύω], speak in public),
and uses it to designate both the prosecution in a trial and the
attribution in a logical proposition, i. e., the questions that must be asked
with regard to a Subjects, and the answers that can be given. As a
representative of the linguistic turn in philosophy, Grice is attracted to the
idea that a category can thus be understood variously, as applying to the realm
of reality (ontology), but also to the philosophy of language (category of
expression) and to philosophical psychology (category of representation). Grice
kept his explorations on categories under two very separate, shall we say,
categories: his explorations with Austin (very serious), and those with
Strawson (more congenial). Where is Smiths altruism? Nowhere to be seen. Should
we say it is idle (otiose) to speak of altruism? No, it is just an attribute,
which, via category shift, can be made the Subjects of your sentence, Strawson.
It is not spatio-temporal, though, right. Not really. ‒ I do not particularly
like your trouser words. The essay is easy to date since Grice notes that
Strawson reproduced some of the details in his Individuals, which we can very
well date. Grice thought Aristotle was the best! Or at any rate almost as good
as Kantotle! Aristotle saw Categoriæ, along with De Int. as part of his
Organon. However, philosophers of language tend to explore these topics without
a consideration of the later parts of the Organon dealing with the syllogism,
the tropes, and the topics ‒ the boring bits! The reason Grice is attracted to
the Aristotelian category (as Austin and Strawson equally were) is that
category allows for a linguistic-turn reading. Plus, its a nice, pretentious
(in the Oxonian way) piece of philosophical jargon! Aristotle couldnt find
category in the koine, so he had to coin it. While meant by Aristotle in a
primarily ontological way, Oxonian philosophers hasten to add that a category
of expression, as Grice puts it, is just as valid a topic for philosophical
exploration. His tutee Strawson will actually publish a book on Subjects and
predicate in grammar! (Trivial, Strawson!). Grice will later add an
intermediary category, which is the Subjects of his philosophical psychology.
As such, a category can be construed ontologically, or representationally: the
latter involving philosophical psychological concepts, and expressions
themselves. For Aristotle, as Grice and Austin, and Grice and Strawson, were
well aware as they educated some of the poor at Oxford (Only the poor learn at
Oxford ‒ Arnold), there are (at least ‒ at most?) ten categories. Grice
doesnt (really) care about the number. But the first are important. Actually
the very first: theres substantia prima, such as Grice. And then theres
substantia secunda, such as Grices rationality. The essentia. Then there are
various types of attributes. But, as Grice sharply notes, even substantia
secunda may be regarded as an attribute. Grices favourite game with Strawson
was indeed Category Shift, or Subjects-ification, as Strawson preferred.
Essence may be introduced as a sub-type of an attribute. We would have
substantia prima AND attribute, which in turn gets divided into essential, the
izzing, and non-essential, the hazzing. While Austin is not so fun to play
with, Strawson is. Smith is a very altruist person. Where is his altruism?
Nowhere to be seen, really. Yet we may sensically speak of Smiths altruism. It
is just a matter of a category shift. Grice scores. Grice is slightly
disappointed, but he perfectly understands, that Strawson, who footnotes Grice
as the tutor from whom I never ceased to learn about logic in Introduction to
logical lheory, fails to acknowledge that most of the research in Strawsons
Individuals: an essay in descriptive (not revisionary) metaphysics derives from
the conclusions reached at his joint philosophical investigations at joint
seminars with Grice. Grice later elaborates on this with Code, who is keen on
Grices other game, the hazz and the hazz not, the izz. But then tutor from whom
I never ceased to learn about metaphysics sounds slightlier clumsier, as far as
the implicature goes. Categories, the Grice-Myro theory of identity, Relative
identity, Grice on =, identity, notes, with Myro, metaphysics, philosophy, with
Code, Grice izz Grice – or izz he? The idea that = is unqualified requires
qualification. Whitehead and Russell ignored this. Grice and Myro didnt. Grice
wants to allow for It is the case that a = b /t1 and it is not the case that a
= b /t2. The idea is intuitive, but philosophers of a Leibnizian bent are too
accustomed to deal with = as an absolute. Grice applies this to human vs.
person. A human may be identical to a person, but cease to be so. Indeed,
Grices earlier attempt to produce a reductive analsysis of I may be seen as
remedying a circularity he detected in Locke about same. Cf. Wiggins, Sameness
and substance. Grice makes Peano feel deeply Griceian, as Grice lists his =
postulates, here for consideration. And if you wondered why Grice prefers
Latinate individuum to the Grecian. The Grecian is “ἄτομον,” in logic, rendered
by L and S as ‘individual, of terms,’ Pl. Sph. 229d; of the εἶδος or forma,
Arist. Metaph.1034a8, de An. 414b27.2. individual, Id. APo. 96b11, al.: as a
subst., τό ἄτομον, Id. Cat. 1b6, 3a38, Metaph.1058a18 (pl.), Plot. 6.2.2,
al. subst.; latinised from Grecian. Lewis and Short have “indīvĭdŭum,” an atom,
indivisible particle: ex illis individuis, unde omnia Democritus gigni
affirmat, Cic. Ac. 2, 17 fin.: ne individuum quidem, nec quod dirimi distrahive
non possit, id. N. D. 3, 12, 29. Note the use of individuum in alethic
modalities for necessity and possibility, starting with (11). ⊢ (α izzes α). This would be the principle of
non-contradiction or identity. Grice applies it to war: War is war, as yielding
a most peculiar implicature. (α izzes β ∧ β izzes γ) ⊃ α
izzes γ. This above is transitivity, which is crucial for Grices tackling of
Reids counterexample to Locke (and which according to Flew in Locke on personal
identity was predated by Berkeley. α hazzes β ⊃ ~(α izzes β). Or, what is accidental is not essential.
Grice allows that what is essential is accidental is, while misleading,
true. ⊢ α hazzes β ⊃⊂ (∃x)(α hazzes x ∧ x
izzes β) ⊢ (∀β)(β izzes a universalium ⊃ β izzes a forma). This above defines a universalium as
a forma, or eidos. (α hazzes β ∧ α
izzes a particular) ⊃ (∃γ).(γ≠α ∧ α izzes β) ⊢ α izzes predicable of β ⊃⊂ ((β izzes α) ∨ (∃x)(β hazzes x ∧ x
izzes α) ⊢ α izzes essentially predicable of β ⊃⊂ β izzes α ⊢ α
izzes non-essentially/accidentally predicable of β ⊃⊂ (∃x)(β hazzes x ∧ x
izzes α) α = β ⊃⊂ α izzes β ∧ β
izzes α ⊢ α izzes an individuum ⊃⊂ □(∀β)(β izzes α ⊃ α izzes β) ⊢ α
izzes a particular ⊃⊂ □(∀β)(α izzes predicable of β ⊃ (α izzes β ∧ β
izzes α)); α izzes a universalium ⊃⊂ ◊(∃β)(α izzes predicable of α ∧ ~(α izzes β ∧ β
izzes α) ⊢ α izzes some-thing ⊃ α
izzes an individuum. ⊢ α izzes a forma ⊃ (α izzes some-thing ∧ α izzes a universalium) 16. ⊢ α izzes predicable of β ⊃⊂ (β izzes α) ∨ (∃x)(β hazzes x ∧ x
izzes α) ⊢ α izzes essentially predicable of α ⊢ α izzes accidentally predicable of β ⊃ α ≠ β; ~(α izzes accidentally predicable of β) ⊃ α ≠ β 20. α izzes a particular ⊃ α izzes an individuum. ⊢ α izzes a particular ⊃ ~(∃x)(x ≠ α ∧ x izzes α) 22. ⊢~
(∃x).(x izzes a particular ∧ x
izzes a forma) α izzes a forma ⊃ ~(∃x)(x ≠ α ∧ x
izzes α) x izzes a particular ⊃ ~(∃β)(α izz β) ⊢ α izzes a forma ⊃ ((α
izzes predicable of β ∧ α ≠ β) ⊃ β hazz α); α izzes a forma ∧ β izzes a particular ⊃ (α izzes predicable of β ⊃⊂ β hazz A) ⊢ (α
izzes a particular ∧ β izzes a universalium ∧ β izzes predicable of α) ⊃ (∃γ)(α ≠ γ ∧ γ
izzes essentially predicable of α) ⊢ (∃x) (∃y)(x izzes a particular ∧ y
izzes a universalium ∧ y izzes predicable of x ⊃ ~(∀x)(x izzes a universalium ∧ x izzes some-thing); (∀β)(β
izzes a universalium ⊃ β izzes some-thing) ⊢ α
izzes a particular) ⊃ ~∃β.(α ≠ β ∧ β
izzes essentially predicable of α); (α izzes predicable of β ∧ α ≠ β)⊃ α izzes non-essentially or
accidentally predicable of β. The use of this or that doxastic modality, necessity
and possibility, starting above, make this a good place to consider one
philosophical mistake Grice mentions in “Causal theory.” What is actual is not
also possible. Cf. What is essential is also accidental. He is criticising a
contemporary, if possible considered dated in the New World, form of
ordinary-language philosophy, where the philosopher detects a nuance, and
embarks risking colliding with the facts, rushing ahead to exploit it before he
can clarify it! Grice liked to see his explorations on = as belonging to
metaphysics, as the s. on his Doctrines
at the Grice Collection testifies. While Grice presupposes the use of = in his
treatment of the king of France, he also explores a relativisation of =. His
motivation was an essay by Wiggins, almost Aristotelian in spirit, against
Strawsons criterion of space-time continuancy for the identification of the
substantia prima. Grice wants to apply = to cases were the time continuancy is
made explicit. This yields that a=b in scenario S, but that it may not be the
case that a = b in a second scenario S. Myro had an occasion to expand on
Grices views in his contribution on the topic for PGRICE. Myro mentions his
System Ghp, a highly powerful/hopefully plausible version of Grices System Q,
in gratitude to to Grice. Grice explored also the logic of izzing and hazzing
with Code. Grice and Myro developed a Geach-type of qualified identity. The
formal aspects were developed by Myro, and also by Code. Grice discussed
Wigginss Sameness and substance, rather than Geach. Cf. Wiggins and Strawson on
Grice for the BA. At Oxford, Grice was more or less given free rein to teach
what he wanted. He found the New World slightly disconcerting at first. At
Oxford, he expected his tutees to be willing to read the classics in the
vernacular Greek. His approach to teaching was diagogic, as Socratess! Even in
his details of izzing and hazzing. Greek enough to me!, as a student recalled! correspondence
with Code, Grice sees in Code an excellent Aristotelian. They collaborated on
an exploration of Aristotles underlying logic of essential and non-essential
predication, for which they would freely use such verbal forms as izzing and
hazing, izzing and hazzing, Code on the significance of the middle book in
Aristotles Met. , Aristotle, metaphysics, the middle book. Very middle.
Grice never knew what was middle for Aristotle, but admired Code too much to
air this! The organisation of Aristotle’s metaphysics was a topic of much
concern for Grice. With Code, Grice coined izzing and hazzing to refer to
essential and non-essential attribution. Izzing and hazzing, “Aristotle on the
multiplicity of being” (henceforth, “Aristotle”) PPQ, Aristotle on
multiplicity, “The Pacific Philosophical Quarterly” (henceforth,
“PPQ,” posthumously ed. by Loar, Aristotle, multiplicity, izzing, hazzing,
being, good, Code. Grice offers a thorough discussion of Owens treatment of
Aristotle as leading us to the snares of ontology. Grice distinguishes between
izzing and hazzing, which he thinks help in clarifying, more axiomatico, what
Aristotle is getting at with his remarks on essential versus non-essential
predication. Surely, for Grice, being, nor indeed good, should not
be multiplied beyond necessity, but izzing and hazzing are already
multiplied. The Grice Papers contains drafts of the essay eventually
submitted for publication by Loar in memoriam Grice. Note that the Grice Papers
contains a typically Griceian un-publication, entitled Aristotle and
multiplicity simpliciter. Rather than Aristotle on, as the title for the
PPQ piece goes. Note also that, since its multiplicity simpliciter, it
refers to Aristotle on two key ideas: being and the good. As Code notes in
his contribution to PGRICE, Grice first presents his thoughts on izzing and hazzing
publicly at Vancouver. Jones has developed the axiomatic treatment favoured by
Grice. For Grice there is multiplicity in both being and good (ton
agathon), both accountable in terms of conversational implicata, of course. If
in Prolegomena, Grice was interested in criticising himself, in essays of
historical nature like these, Grice is seeing Aristotles Athenian dialectic as
a foreshadow of the Oxonian dialectic, and treating him as an equal. Grice is
yielding his razor: senses are not to be multiplied beyond necessity.
But then Aristotle is talking about the multiplicity of is and is
good. Surely, there are ways to turn Aristotle into the monoguist
he has to be! There is a further item in the Grice collection that
combines Aristotle on being with Aristotle on good, which is relevant in
connection with this. Aristotle on being and good
(ἀγαθόν). Aristotle, being, good (agathon), ἀγαθός. As from this f.,
the essays are ordered alphabetically, starting with Aristotle, Grice will
explore Aristotle on being or is and good (ἀγαθός) in explorations with Code.
Grice comes up with izzing and hazzing as the two counterparts to Aristotles
views on, respectively, essential and non-essential predication. Grices views
on Aristotle on the good (strictly, there is no need to restrict Arisstotles
use to the neuter form, since he employs ἀγαθός) connect with Grices
Aristotelian idea of eudaemonia, that he explores elsewhere. Strictly:
Aristotle on being and the good. If that had been Grices case, he would have
used the definite article. Otherwise, good may well translate as masculine,
ἀγαθός ‒the agathetic implicatum. He plays with Dodgson, cabbages and
kings. For what is a good cabbage as opposed to a cabbage? It does not
require very sharp eyes, but only our willingness to use the eyes one has, to
see that speech is permeated with the notion of purpose. To say what a
certain kind of thing is is only too frequently partly to say that it is
for. This feature applies to talk of, e. g., ships, shoes, sailing wax,
and kings; and, possibly and perhaps most excitingly, it extends even to
cabbages! Although Grice suspects Urmson might disagree. v. Grice on
Urmsons apples. Grice at his jocular best. If he is going to be a Kantian,
he will. He uses Kantian jargon to present his theory of conversation. This he
does only at Harvard. The implicature being that talking of vaguer assumptions
of helpfulness would not sound too convincing. So he has the maxim, the
super-maxim, and the sub-maxim. A principle and a maxim is Kantian enough. But
when he actually echoes Kant, is when he introduces what he later calls the
conversational categories – the keyword here is conversational category, as
categoria is used by Aristotle and Kant ‒ or Kantotle. Grice surely
knew that, say, his Category of Conversational Modality had nothing to do with
the Kantian Category of Modality. Still, he stuck with the idea of four
categories (versus Aristotles ten, eight or seven, as the text you consult may
tell you): category of conversational quantity (which at Oxford he had
formulated in much vaguer terms like strength and informativeness and
entailment), the category of conversational quality (keyword: principle of
conversational trust), and the category of conversational relation, where again
Kants relation has nothing to do with the maxim Grice associates with this
category. In any case, his Kantian joke may be helpful when considering the
centrality of the concept category simpliciter that Grice had to fight with
with his pupils at Oxford – he was lucky to have Austin and Strawson as co-lecturers!
Grice was irritated by L and S defining kategoria as category. I guess I knew
that. He agreed with their second shot, predicable. Ultimately, Grices concern
with category is his concern with person, or prote ousia, as used by Aristotle,
and as giving a rationale to Grices agency-based approach to the philosophical
enterprise. Aristotle used kategorein in the sense of to predicate,
assert something of something, and kategoria. The prote ousia is
exemplified by o tis anthropos. It is obvious that Grice wants to approach
Aristotles semantics and Aristotles metaphysics at one fell swoop. Grice reads
Aristotles Met. , and finds it understandable. Consider the adjective French
(which Aristotle does NOT consider) ‒ as it occurs in phrases such as Michel
Foucault is a French citizen. Grice is not a French citizen. Michel
Foucault once wrote a nice French poem. Urmson once wrote a nice French
essay on pragmatics. Michel Foucault was a French professor. Michel
Foucault is a French professor. Michel Foucault is a French professor of
philosophy. The following features are perhaps significant. The appearance
of the adjective French, or Byzantine, as the case might be ‒ cf. I’m
feeling French tonight. In these phrases is what Grice has as adjunctive rather
than conjunctive, or attributive. A French poem is not necessarily something
which combines the separate features of being a poem and being French, as a
tall philosopher would simply combine the features of being tall and of being a
philosopher. French in French poem, occurs adverbially. French
citizen standardly means citizen of France. French poem standardly means poem
in French. But it is a mistake to suppose that this fact implies that there is
this or that meaning, or, worse, this or that Fregeian sense, of the expression
French. In any case, only metaphorically or metabolically can we say that
French means this or that or has sense. An utterer means. An utterer makes
sense. Cf. R. Pauls doubts about capitalizing major. French means, and
figuratively at that, only one thing, viz. of or pertaining to France. And
English only means of or pertaining to England. French may be what
Grice (unfollowing his remarks on The general theory of context) call
context-sensitive. One might indeed say, if you like, that while French
means ‒ or means only this or that, or that its only sense is this or that,
French still means, again figuratively, a variety of things. French
means-in-context of or pertaining to France. Symbolise that
as expression E means-in-context that p. Expression E means-in-context C2 that
p2. Relative to Context C1 French means of France;
as in the phrase French citizen. Relative to context C2, French
means in the French language, as in the
phrase, French poem ‒ whereas history does not behave, like this. Whether
the focal item is a universal or a particular is, contra Aristotle, quite
irrelevant to the question of what this or that related adjective means, or
what its sense is. The medical art is no more what an utterer means when he
utters the adjective medical, as is France what an utterer means by the
adjective French. While the attachment of this or that context may suggest an
interpretation in context of this or that expression as uttered by the utterer
U, it need not be the case that such a suggestion is indefeasible. It
might be e.g. that French poem would have to mean, poem composed in French,
unless there were counter indications, that brings the utterer and the
addressee to a different context C3. In which case, perhaps
what the utterer means by French poem is poem composed by a French competitor
in this or that competition. For French professor there would be two
obvious things an utterer might mean. Disambiguation will depend on the
wider expression-context or in the situational context attaching to
the this or that circumstance of utterance. Eschatology. Some like Hegel, but
Collingwoods *my* man! ‒ Grice. Grice participated in two
consecutive evenings of the s. of programmes on metaphysics organised by Pears.
Actually, charming Pears felt pretentious enough to label the meetings to be
about the nature of metaphysics! Grice ends up discussing, as he should,
Collingwood on presupposition. Met.
remained a favourite topic for Grices philosophical explorations, as it
is evident from his essay on Met. , Philosophical Eschatology, and Platos
Republic, repr. in his WOW . Possibly Hardie is to blame, since he hardly
tutored Grice on metaphysics! Grices two BBC lectures are typically dated in
tone. It was the (good ole) days when philosophers thought they could educate
the non-elite by dropping Namess like Collingwood and stuff! The Third
Programme was extremely popular, especially among the uneducated ones at
London, as Pears almost put it, as it was a way for Londoners to get to know
what is going on down at Oxford, the only place an uneducated (or educated, for
that matter) Londoner at the time was interested in displaying some interest
about! I mean, Johnson is right: if a man is tired of the nature of
metaphysics, he is tired of life! Since the authorship is Grice, Strawson, and
Pears, Met. , in Pears, The Nature of Met., The BBC Third Programme, it is
somewhat difficult to identify what paragraphs were actually read by Grice (and
which ones by Pears and which ones by Strawson). But trust the sharp Griceian
to detect the correct implicature! There are many (too many) other items
covered by these two lectures: Kant, Aristotle, in no particular order. And in
The Grice Collection, for that matter, that cover the field of metaphysics. In
the New World, as a sort of tutor in the graduate programme, Grice was expected
to cover the discipline at various seminars. Only I dislike discipline! Perhaps
his clearest exposition is in the opening section of his Met. , philosophical
eschatology, and Platos Republic, repr. in his WOW , where he states, bluntly
that all you need is metaphysics! metaphysics,
Miscellaneous, metaphysics notes, Grice would possible see metaphysics as a
class – category figuring large. He was concerned with the methodological
aspects of the metaphysical enterprise, since he was enough of a relativist to
allow for one metaphysical scheme to apply to one area of discourse (one of
Eddingtons tables) and another metaphysical scheme to apply to another
(Eddingtons other table). In the third programme for the BBC Grice especially
enjoyed criticising John Wisdoms innovative look at metaphysics as a bunch of
self-evident falsehoods (Were all alone). Grice focuses on Wisdom on the
knowledge of other minds. He also discusses Collingwoods presuppositions, and
Bradley on the reality-appearance distinction. Grices reference to Wisdom was
due to Ewings treatment of Wisdom on metaphysics. Grices main motivation here
is defending metaphysics against Ayer. Ayer thought to win more Oxonian
philosophers than he did at Oxford, but he was soon back in London. Post-war
Oxford had become conservative and would not stand to the nonsense of Ayers
claiming that metaphysics is nonsense, especially, as Ayers implicature also
was, that philosophy is nonsense! Perhaps the best summary of Griceian
metaphysics is his From Genesis to Revelations: a new discourse on metaphysics.
It’s an ontological answer that one must give to Grices metabolic operation
from utterers meaning to expression meaning, Grice had been interested in the
methodology of metaphysics since his Oxford days. He counts as one
memorable experience in the area his participation in two episodes for the BBC
Third Programme on The nature of metaphysics with the organiser, Pears, and his
former tutee, Strawson on the panel. Grice was particularly keen on
Collingwoods views on metaphysical presuppositions, both absolute and
relative! Grice also considers John Wisdoms view of the metaphysical
proposition as a blatant falsehood. Grice considers Bradleys Hegelian metaphysics
of the absolute, in Appearance and reality. Refs.: While Grice’s choice was
‘eschatology,’ as per WoW, Essay, other keywords are useful, notably
“metaphysics,” “ontology,” “theorizing,” and “theory-theory,” in The H. P.
Grice Papers, BANC.
explanation:
Cr. Occam. M. O. R. the necessity is explanatory necessity. Senses or
conventional implicatata (not reachable by ‘argument’) and Strawson do not
explain. G. A. Paul does not explain. Unlike Austin, who was in love with a
taxonomy, Grice loved an explanation. “Ἀρχὴν δὲ τῶν πάντων ὕδωρ ὑπεστήσατο, καὶ
τὸν κόσμον ἔμψυχον καὶ δαιμόνων πλήρη. “Arkhen de ton panton hudor
hupestesato.” Thales’s doctrine is that water is the universal primary
substance, and that the world is animate and full of divinities. “Ἀλλὰ Θαλῆς μὲν
ὁ τῆς τοιαύτης ἀρχηγὸς φιλοσοφίας ὕδωρ φησὶν εἶναι (διὸ καὶ τὴν γῆν ἐφ᾽ ὕδατος
ἀπεφήνατο εἶναι), λαβὼν ἴσως τὴν ὑπόληψιν ταύτην ἐκ τοῦ πάντων ὁρᾶν τὴν τροφὴν
ὑγρὰν οὖσαν καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ θερμὸν ἐκ τούτου γιγνόμενον καὶ τούτῳ ζῶν (τὸ δ᾽ ἐξ οὗ
γίγνεται, τοῦτ᾽ ἐστὶν ἀρχὴ πάντων) – διά τε δὴ τοῦτο τὴν ὑπόληψιν λαβὼν ταύτην
καὶ διὰ τὸ πάντων τὰ σπέρματα τὴν φύσιν ὑγρὰν ἔχειν, τὸ δ᾽ ὕδωρ ἀρχὴν τῆς
φύσεως εἶναι τοῖς ὑγροῖς. εἰσὶ δέ τινες οἳ καὶ τοὺς παμπαλαίους καὶ πολὺ πρὸ
τῆς νῦν γενέσεως καὶ πρώτους θεολογήσαντας οὕτως οἴονται περὶ τῆς φύσεως
ὑπολαβεῖν‧
Ὠκεανόν τε γὰρ καὶ Τηθὺν ἐποίησαν τῆς γενέσεως πατέρας [Hom. Ξ 201], καὶ τὸν
ὅρκον τῶν θεῶν ὕδωρ, τὴν καλουμένην ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν Στύγα τῶν ποιητῶν‧ τιμιώτατον μὲν γὰρ τὸ πρεσβύτατον, ὅρκος δὲ τὸ τιμιώτατόν
ἐστιν. εἰ μὲν οὖν [984a] ἀρχαία τις αὕτη καὶ παλαιὰ τετύχηκεν οὖσα περὶ τῆς
φύσεως ἡ δόξα, τάχ᾽ ἂν ἄδηλον εἴη, Θαλῆς μέντοι λέγεται οὕτως ἀποφήνασθαι περὶ
τῆς πρώτης αἰτίας. (Ἵππωνα γὰρ οὐκ ἄν τις ἀξιώσειε θεῖναι μετὰ τούτων διὰ τὴν
εὐτέλειαν αὐτοῦ τῆς διανοίας)‧
Ἀναξιμένης δὲ ἀέρα καὶ Διογένης πρότερον ὕδατος καὶ μάλιστ᾽ ἀρχὴν τιθέασι τῶν
ἁπλῶν σωμάτων.” De caelo: “Οἱ δ᾽ ἐφ᾽ ὕδατος κεῖσθαι [sc. τὴν γὴν]. τοῦτον γὰρ
ἀρχαιότατον παρειλήφαμεν τὸν λόγον, ὅν φασιν εἰπεῖν Θαλῆν τὸν Μιλήσιον, ὡς διὰ
τὸ πλωτὴν εἶναι μένουσαν ὥσπερ ξύλον ἤ τι τοιοῦτον ἕτερον (καὶ γὰρ τούτων ἐπ᾽
ἀέρος μὲν οὐθὲν πέφυκε μένειν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐφ᾽ ὕδατος), ὥσπερ οὐ τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον ὄντα
περὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ τοῦ ὕδατος τοῦ ὀχοῦντος τὴν γῆν‧ οὐδὲ γὰρ τὸ ὕδωρ πέφυκε μένειν μετέωρον, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπί τινός
[294b] ἐστιν. ἔτι δ᾽ ὥσπερ ἀὴρ ὕδατος κουφότερον, καὶ γῆς ὕδωρ‧ ὥστε πῶς οἷόν τε τὸ κουφότερον κατωτέρω κεῖσθαι τοῦ
βαρυτέρου τὴν φύσιν; ἔτι δ᾽ εἴπερ ὅλη πέφυκε μένειν ἐφ᾽ ὕδατος, δῆλον ὅτι καὶ
τῶν μορίων ἕκαστον [αὐτῆς]‧
νῦν δ᾽ οὐ φαίνεται τοῦτο γιγνόμενον, ἀλλὰ τὸ τυχὸν μόριον φέρεται εἰς βυθόν,
καὶ θᾶττον τὸ μεῖζον. The problem of the nature of matter, and its
transformation into the myriad things of which the universe is made, engaged
the natural philosophers, commencing with Thales. For his hypothesis to be
credible, it was essential that he could explain how all things could come into
being from water, and return ultimately to the originating material. It is
inherent in Thaless hypotheses that water had the potentiality to change to the
myriad things of which the universe is made, the botanical, physiological,
meteorological and geological states. In Timaeus, 49B-C, Plato had Timaeus
relate a cyclic process. The passage commences with that which we now call
“water” and describes a theory which was possibly that of Thales. Thales would
have recognized evaporation, and have been familiar with traditional views,
such as the nutritive capacity of mist and ancient theories about spontaneous
generation, phenomena which he may have observed, just as Aristotle believed
he, himself had, and about which Diodorus Siculus, Epicurus (ap. Censorinus,
D.N. IV.9), Lucretius (De Rerum Natura) and Ovid (Met. I.416-437) wrote. When
Aristotle reported Thales’s pronouncement that the primary principle is water,
he made a precise statement: Thales says that it [the nature of things] is
water, but he became tentative when he proposed reasons which might have
justified Thaless decision. Thales’s supposition may have arisen from
observation. It is Aristotle’s opinion that Thales may have observed, that the
nurture of all creatures is moist, and that warmth itself is generated from
moisture and lives by it; and that from which all things come to be is their
first principle. Then, Aristotles tone changed towards greater confidence. He
declared: Besides this, another reason for the supposition would be that the
semina of all things have a moist nature. In continuing the criticism of
Thales, Aristotle wrote: That from which all things come to be is their first
principle (Metaph. 983 b25). Simple
metallurgy had been practised long before Thales presented his hypotheses, so
Thales knew that heat could return metals to a liquid state. Water exhibits
sensible changes more obviously than any of the other so-called elements, and
can readily be observed in the three states of liquid, vapour and ice. The
understanding that water could generate into earth is basic to Thaless watery
thesis. At Miletus it could readily be observed that water had the capacity to
thicken into earth. Miletus stood on the Gulf of Lade through which the
Maeander river emptied its waters. Within living memory, older Milesians had
witnessed the island of Lade increasing in size within the Gulf, and the river
banks encroaching into the river to such an extent that at Priene, across the
gulf from Miletus the warehouses had to be rebuilt closer to the waters edge.
The ruins of the once prosperous city-port of Miletus are now ten kilometres
distant from the coast and the Island of Lade now forms part of a rich
agricultural plain. There would have been opportunity to observe other areas
where earth generated from water, for example, the deltas of the Halys, the
Ister, about which Hesiod wrote (Theogony, 341), now called the Danube, the
Tigris-Euphrates, and almost certainly the Nile. This coming-into-being of land
would have provided substantiation of Thaless doctrine. To Thales water held
the potentialities for the nourishment and generation of the entire cosmos.
Aëtius attributed to Thales the concept that even the very fire of the sun and
the stars, and indeed the cosmos itself is nourished by evaporation of the
waters (Aëtius, Placita). It is not
known how Thales explained his watery thesis, but Aristotle believed that the
reasons he proposed were probably the persuasive factors in Thaless considerations.
Thales gave no role to the Olympian gods. Belief in generation of earth from
water was not proven to be wrong until A.D. 1769 following experiments of
Antoine Lavoisier, and spontaneous generation was not disproved until the
nineteenth century as a result of the work of Louis Pasteur.The first
philosophical explanation of the world was speculative not practical. has its
intelligibility in being identified with one of its parts (the world is water).
First philosophical explanation for Universe human is rational and the world in
independent; He said the arché is water; Monist: He believed reality is
one Thales of Miletus, first
philosophical explanation of the origin and nature of justice (and Why after all, did a Thales is Water.” Without the millions of species
that make up the biosphere, and the billions of interactions between them that
go on day by day,.Oddly, Grice had spent some time on x-questions in the Kant
lectures. And why is an x-question. A philosophical explanation of conversation.
A philosophical explanation of implicature. Description vs. explanation. Grice
quotes from Fisher, Never contradict. Never explain. Taxonomy, is worse than
explanation, always. Grice is exploring the taxonomy-description vs.
explanation dichotomy. He would often criticise ordinary-language philosopher
Austin for spending too much valuable time on linguistic botany, without an aim
in his head. Instead, his inclination, a dissenting one, is to look for
the big picture of it all, and disregard a piece-meal analysis. Conversation
is a good example. While Austin would Subjectsify Language (Linguistic Nature),
Grice rather places rationality squarely on the behaviour displayed by utterers
as they make conversational moves that their addressees will judge as rational
along specific lines. Observation of the principle of conversational
helpfulness is rational (reasonable) along the following lines: anyone who
cares about the two goals which are central to conversation, viz. giving and
receiving information, and influencing and being influenced by others, is
expected to have an interest in taking part in a conversation which will only
be profitable (if not possible) under the assumption that it is conducted along
the lines of the principle of conversational helpfulness. Grice is not
interested in conversation per se, but as a basis for a theory that explains
the mistakes ordinary-language philosophers are making. The case of What is
known to be the case is not believed to be the case. Refs.: One good source is
the “Prejudices and predilections.” Also the first set of ‘Logic and
conversation.” There is also an essay on the ‘that’ versus the ‘why.’ The H. P.
Grice Papers, BANC.
explication.
A logical construction is an explication. A reductive analysis is an
explication. Cf. Grice on Reductionism as a bete noire, sometimes misquoted as
Reductivism. Grice used both ‘explanation’ and ‘explication’, so one has to be
careful. When he said that he looked for a theory that would explain
conversation or the implicatum, he did not mean explication.
expressum: Darwin,
Eckman. Drawing a skull meaning there is
danger. cf. impressum. Inside out. Expression of Impressions. As an empiricist,
Grice was into ‘impress.’ But it’s always good to have a correlatum. Grice
liked an abbreviation, especially because he loved subscripts. So, he starts to
analyse the ‘ordinary-language’ philosohper’s mistake by using a few symbols:
there’s the phrase, or utterance, and there’s the expression, for which Grice
uses ‘e’ for a ‘token,’ and ‘E’ for a type. So, suppose we are considering
Hart’s use of ‘carefully.’ ‘Carefully’ would be the ‘expression,’ occurring
within an utterance. Surely, since Grice uses ‘expression’ in that way, he also
uses to say what Hart is doing, Hart is expressing. Grice notes that
‘expressing’ may be too strong. Hart is expressing the belief THAT if you utter
an utterance containing the ‘expression’ ‘carefully,’ there is an implicatum to
the effect that the agent referred to is taking RATIONAL steps towards
something. IRRATIONAL behaviour does not count as ‘careful’ behaviour. Grice
uses the same abbreviations in discussing philosophy as the ‘conceptual
analysis’ of this or that expression. It is all different with Ogden,
Collingwood, and Croce, that Collingwood loved! "Ideas, we may say generally, are
symbols, as serving to express some actual moment or phase of experience and
guiding towards fuller actualization of what is, or seems to be, involved in
its existence or MEANING . That no idea is ever wholly adequate MEANS that the
suggestiveness of experience is inexhaustible" Forsyth, English
Philosophy, 1910, . Thus the significance of sound, the meaning of an utterance
is here identical with the active response to surroundings and with the natural
expression of emotions According to Husserl, the function of expression is only
directly and immediately adapted to what is usually described as the meaning
(Bedeutung) or the sense (Sinn) of the speech or parts of speech. Only because
the meaning associated with a wordsowid expresses something, is that word-sound
called 'expres- sion' (Ideen, p. 256 f). "Between the ,nearnng and the
what is meant, or what it expresses, there exists an essential relation,
because the meaning is the expression of the meant through its own content (Gehalt)
What is meant (dieses Bedeutete) lies in the 'object' of the thought or speech.
We must therefore distinguish these three-Word, Meaning, Object "1 Geyser,
Gp cit p z8 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked
evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompresso These complexities are mentioned here
to show how vague are most of the terms which are commonly thought satisfactory
in this topic. Such a word as 'understand' is, unless specially treated, far
too vague to serve except provisionally or at levels of discourse where a real
understanding of the matter (in the reference sense) is not possible. The
multiple functions of speech will be classified and discussed in the following
chapter. There it will be seen that the expression of the speaker's intention
is one of the five regular language functions. Grice hated Austin’s joke, the
utteratum, “I use ‘utterance’ only as equivalent to 'utteratum;' for
'utteratio' I use ‘the issue of an utterance,’” so he needed something for
‘what is said’ in general, not just linguistic, ‘what is expressed,’ what is
explicitly conveyed,’ ex-prĭmo , pressi, pressum, 3, v. a. premo. express
(mostly poet. and in postAug. prose; “freq. in the elder Pliny): (faber) et
ungues exprimet et molles imitabitur aere capillos,” Hor. A. P. 33; cf.:
“alicujus furorem ... verecundiae ruborem,” Plin. 34, 14, 40, § 140: “expressa
in cera ex anulo imago,” Plaut. Ps. 1, 1, 54: “imaginem hominis gypso e facie
ipsa,” Plin. 35, 12, 44, § 153; cf.: “effigiem de signis,” id. ib.: “optime
Herculem Delphis et Alexandrum, etc.,” id. 34, 8, 19, § 66 et saep.: “vestis stricta
et singulos artus exprimens,” exhibiting, showing, Tac. G. 17: “pulcher aspectu
sit athleta, cujus lacertos exercitatio expressit,” has well developed, made
muscular, Quint. 8, 3, 10.
find
play
– where Grice’s implicature finds play Strawson Wiggins p. 523
freedom: Like identity, crucial in philosophy in covering
everything. E cannot communicate that p, unless E is FREE. An amoeba cannot
communicate thatp. End setting, unweighed rationality, rationality about the
ends, autonomy. Grice was especially concerned with Kants having brought back
the old Greek idea of eleutheria for philosophical discussion. Refs.: the
obvious keywords are “freedom” and “free,” but most of the material is in
“Actions and events,” in PPQ, and below under ‘kantianism’ – The H. P. Grice
Papers, BANC.Bratman,
of Stanford, much influenced by Grice (at Berkeley then) thanks to their
Hands-Across-the-Bay programme, helps us to understand this Pological
progression towards the idea of strong autonomy or freedom. Recall that Grices Ps
combine Lockes very intelligent parrots with Russells and Carnaps nonsensical
Ps of which nothing we are told other than they karulise elatically. Grices
purpose is to give a little thought to a question. What are the general
principles exemplified, in creature-construction, in progressing from one type
of P to a higher type? What kinds of steps are being made? The kinds of step
with which Grice deals are those which culminate in a licence to include,
within the specification of the content of the psychological state of this or
that type of P, a range of expressions which would be inappropriate with
respect to this lower-type P. Such expressions include this or that connective,
this or that quantifier, this or that temporal modifier, this or that mode indicator,
this or that modal operator, and (importantly) this or that expression to refer
to this or that souly state like …
judges that … and … will that … This or that expression, that is, the
availability of which leads to the structural enrichment of the specification
of content. In general, these steps will be ones by which this or that item or
idea which has, initially, a legitimate place outside the scope of this or that
souly instantiable (or, if you will, the expressions for which occur legitimately
outside the scope of this or that souly predicate) come to have a legitimate
place within the scope of such an instantiable, a step by which, one might say,
this or that item or ideas comes to be internalised. Grice is disposed to
regard as prototypical the sort of natural disposition or propension which Hume
attributes to a person, and which is very important to Hume, viz. the tendency
of the soul to spread itself upon objects, i.e. to project into the world items
which, properly or primitively considered, is a feature of this or that souly
state. Grice sets out in stages the application of aspects of the genitorial
programme. We then start with a zero-order, with a P equipped to satisfy
unnested, or logically amorphous, judging and willing, i.e. whose contents do
not involve judging or willing. We soon reach our first P, G1. It
would be advantageous to a P0 if it could have this or that
judging and this or that willing, which relate to its own judging or willing.
Such G1 could be equipped to control or regulate its own
judgings and willings. It will presumably be already constituted so as to
conform to the law that, cæteris paribus, if it wills that p and judge that ~p,
if it can, it makes it the case that p in its soul To give it some control over
its judgings and willings, we need only extend the application of this law to
the Ps judging and willing. We equip the P so that, cæteris paribus, if it
wills that it is not the case that it wills that p and it judges that they do
will that p, if it can, it makes it the case that it does not will that p. And
we somehow ensure that sometimes it can do this. It may be that the
installation of this kind of control would go hand in had with the installation
of the capacity for evaluation. Now, unlike it is the case with a G1, a G2s
intentional effort depends on the motivational strength of its considered
desire at the time of action. There is a process by which this or that
conflicting considered desire motivates action as a broadly causal process, a
process that reveals motivational strength. But a G2 might itself try to weigh
considerations provided by such a conflicting desire B1 and B2 in deliberation
about this or that pro and this or that con of various alternatives. In the
simplest case, such weighing treats each of the things desired as a prima facie
justifying end. In the face of conflict, it weighs this and that desired end,
where the weights correspond to the motivational strength of the associated
considered desire. The outcome of such deliberation, Aristotle’s prohairesis,
matches the outcome of the causal motivational process envisioned in the
description of G2. But, since the weights it invokes in such
deliberation correspond to the motivational strength of this or that relevant
considered desire (though perhaps not to the motivational strength of this or
that relevant considered desire), the resultant activitiy matches those of a
corresponding G2 (each of whose desires, we are assuming, are
considered). To be more realistic, we might limit ourselves to saying that a P2 has
the capacity to make the transition from this or that unconsidered desire to
this or that considered desire, but does not always do this. But it will keep
the discussion more manageable to simplify and to suppose that each desire is
considered. We shall not want this G2 to depend, in each will and act in ways
that reveal the motivational strength of this or that considered desire at the
time of action, but for a G3 it will also be the case that in
this or that, though not each) case, it acts on the basis of how it weights
this or that end favoured by this or that conflicting considered desire. This
or that considered desire will concern matters that cannot be achieved simply
by action at a single time. E. g. G3 may want to nurture a vegetable garden, or
build a house. Such matters will require organized and coordinated action that
extends over time. What the G3 does now will depend not only on what it now
desires but also on what it now expects it will do later given what it does
now. It needs a way of settling now what it will do later given what it does
now. The point is even clearer when we remind ourselves that G3 is not alone.
It is, we may assume, one of some number of G3; and in many cases it needs to
coordinate what it does with what other G3 do so as to achieve ends desired by
all participants, itself included. These costs are magnified for G4 whose
various plans are interwoven so that a change in one element can have
significant ripple effects that will need to be considered. Let us suppose that
the general strategies G4 has for responding to new information about its
circumstances are sensitive to these kinds of costs. Promoting in the long run
the satisfaction of its considered desires and preferences. G4 is
a somewhat sophisticated planning agent but it has a problem. It can expect
that its desires and preferences may well change over time and undermine its
efforts at organizing and coordinating its activities over time. Perhaps in
many cases this is due to the kind of temporal discounting. So for example G4
may have a plan to exercise every day but may tend to prefer a sequence of not
exercising on the present day but exercising all days in the future, to a
uniform sequence the present day included. At the end of the day it returns to
its earlier considered preference in favour of exercising on each and every
day. Though G4, unlike G3, has the capacity to settle on prior plans
or plaices concerning exercise, this capacity does not yet help in such a case.
A creature whose plans were stable in ways in part shaped by such a no-regret
principle would be more likely than G4 to resist temporary temptations. So
let us build such a principle into the stability of the plans of a G5, whose
plans and policies are not derived solely from facts about its limits of time,
attention, and the like. It is also grounded in the central concerns of a
planning agent with its own future, concerns that lend special significance to
anticipated future regret. So let us add to G5 the capacity and disposition to
arrive at such hierarchies of higher-order desires concerning its
will. This gives us creature G6. There is a problem with G6, one that has
been much discussed. It is not clear why a higher-order desire ‒
even a higher-order desire that a certain desire be ones will ‒ is
not simply one more desire in the pool of desires (Berkeley Gods will problem).
Why does it have the authority to constitute or ensure the agents (i. e. the
creatures) endorsement or rejection of a first-order desire? Applied to G6 this
is the question of whether, by virtue solely of its hierarchies of desires, it
really does succeed in taking its own stand of endorsement or rejection of
various first-order desires. Since it was the ability to take its own stand
that we are trying to provide in the move to P6, we need some
response to this challenge. The basic point is that G6 is not
merely a time-slice agent. It is, rather, and understands itself to be, a
temporally persisting planning agent, one who begins, and continues, and
completes temporally extended projects. On a broadly Lockean view, its
persistence over time consists in relevant psychological continuities (e.g.,
the persistence of attitudes of belief and intention) and connections (e.g.,
memory of a past event, or the later intentional execution of an intention
formed earlier). Certain attitudes have as a primary role the constitution and
support of such Lockean continuities and connections. In particular, policies
that favour or reject various desires have it as their role to constitute and
support various continuities both of ordinary desires and of the politicos
themselves. For this reason such policies are not merely additional wiggles in
the psychic stew. Instead, these policies have a claim to help determine where
the agent ‒ i.e., the temporally persisting agent ‒ stands with respect to
its desires, or so it seems to me reasonable to say. The psychology of G7
continues to have the hierarchical structure of pro-attitudes introduced with
G6. The difference is that the higher-order pro-attitudes of G6 were simply
characterized as desires in a broad, generic sense, and no appeal was made to
the distinctive species of pro-attitude constituted by plan-like attitudes.
That is the sense in which the psychology of G7 is an extension of the
psychology of G6. Let us then give G7 such higher-order policies with the
capacity to take a stand with respect to its desires by arriving at relevant
higher-order policies concerning the functioning of those desires over time. G7 exhibits
a merger of hierarchical and planning structures. Appealing to planning theory
and ground in connection to the temporally extended structure of agency to be
ones will. G7 has higher-order policies that favour or challenge motivational
roles of its considered desires. When G7 engages in deliberative weighing of
conflicting, desired ends it seems that the assigned weights should reflect the
policies that determine where it stands with respect to relevant desires. But
the policies we have so far appealed to ‒ policies concerning what desires are
to be ones will ‒ do not quite address this concern. The problem is that one
can in certain cases have policies concerning which desires are to motivate and
yet these not be policies that accord what those desires are for a
corresponding justifying role in deliberation. G8. A solution is to give our
creature, G8, the capacity to arrive at policies that express
its commitment to be motivated by a desire by way of its treatment of that
desire as providing, in deliberation, a justifying end for action. G8 has
policies for treating (or not treating) certain desires as providing justifying
ends, as, in this way, reason-providing, in motivationally effective
deliberation. Let us call such policies self-governing policies. We will
suppose that these policies are mutually compatible and do not challenge each
other. In this way G8 involves an extension of structures already present in
G7. The grounds on which G8 arrives at (and on occasion revises) such
self-governing policies will be many and varied. We can see these policies as
crystallizing complex pressures and concerns, some of which are grounded in
other policies or desires. These self-governing policies may be tentative and
will normally not be immune to change. If we ask what G8 values in this case,
the answer seems to be: what it values is constituted in part by its
higher-order self-governing policies. In particular, it values exercise over
nonexercise even right now, and even given that it has a considered, though
temporary, preference to the contrary. Unlike lower Ps, what P8 now
values is not simply a matter of its present, considered desires and
preferences. Now this model of P8 seems in relevant aspects to be a partial)
model of us, in our better moments, of course. So we arrive at the conjecture
that one important kind of valuing of which we are capable involves, in the
cited ways, both our first-order desires and our higher order self-governing
policies. In an important sub-class of cases our valuing involves reflexive
polices that are both first-order policies of action and higher-order policies
to treat the first-order policy as reason providing in motivationally effective
deliberation. This may seem odd. Valuing seems normally to be a first-order attitude.
One values honesty, say. The proposal is that an important kind of valuing
involves higher-order policies. Does this mean that, strictly speaking, what
one values (in this sense) is itself a desire ‒ not honesty, say, but a desire
for honesty? No, it does not. What I value in the present case is honesty; but,
on the theory, my valuing honesty in art consists in certain higher-order
self-governing policies. An agents reflective valuing involves a kind of
higher-order willing. Freud challenged the power structure of the soul in
Plato: it is the libido that takes control, not the logos. Grice takes up this
polemic. Aristotle takes up Platos challenge, each type of soul is united to
the next by the idea of life. The animal soul, between the vegetative and the
rational, is not detachable.
futurum
indicativum:
The future is essentially involved in “E communicates that p,” i. e. E, the
emissor, intends that his addressee, in a time later than t, will come to
believe this or that. Grice is
especially concerned with the future for his analysis of the communicatum.
“Close the door!” By uttering “Close the door!,” U means that A is to close the
door – in the future. So Grice spends HOURS exploring how one can have
justification to have an intention about a future event. Grice is aware of the
‘shall.’ Grice uses ‘shall’ in the first person to mean wha the calls ‘futurum
indicativum.’ (He considers the case of the ‘shall’ in the second and third
persons in his analysis of mode). What are the conditions for the use of
“shall” in the first person. “I shall close the door” may be predictable. It is
in the indicative mode. “Thou shalt close the door,” and “He shall close the
door” are in the imperative mode, or rather they correspond to the ‘futurum
intentionale.’ Since Grice is an analytic philosopher, he specifies the
analysis in the third person (“U means that…”) one has to be careful. For
‘futurum indicativum’ we have ‘shall’ in the first person, and ‘will’ in the
second and third persons. So for the first group, U means that he will go. In
the second group, U means that his addressee or a third party shall go. Grice
adopts a subscript variant, stick with ‘will,’ but add the mode afterwards: so
will-ind. will be ‘futurum indicativum,’ and will-int. will be futurum intentionale.
The OED has it as “shall,” and defines as a Germanic preterite-present
strong verb. In Old English, it is “sceal,” and which the OED renders as “to
owe (money,” 1425 Hoccleve Min. Poems, The leeste ferthyng þat y men shal. To
owe (allegiance); 1649 And by that feyth I shal to god and yow; followed by an
infinitive, without to. Except for a few instances of shall will, shall may
(mowe), "shall conne" in the 15th c., the infinitive after shall is
always either that of a principal verb or of have or be; The present tense
shall; in general statements of what is right or becoming, = ought, superseded
by the past subjunctive should; in OE. the subjunctive present sometimes occurs
in this use; 1460 Fortescue Abs. and Lim. Mon. The king shall often times send
his judges to punish rioters and risers. 1562 Legh Armory; Whether are
Roundells of all suche coloures, as ye haue spoken of here before? or shall
they be Namesd Roundelles of those coloures? In OE. and occas. in Middle
English used to express necessity of various kinds. For the many shades of
meaning in Old English see Bosworth and Toller), = must, "must
needs", "have to", "am compelled to", etc.; in stating
a necessary condition: = `will have to, `must (if something else is to happen).
1596 Shaks. Merch. V. i. i. 116 You shall seeke all day ere you finde them,
& when you haue them they are not worth the search. 1605 Shaks. Lear.
He that parts vs, shall bring a Brand from Heauen. c In hypothetical clause,
accompanying the statement of a necessary condition: = `is to. 1612 Bacon Ess.,
Greatn. Kingd., Neither must they be too much broken of it, if they shall be
preserued in vigor; ndicating what is appointed or settled to take place = the
mod. `is to, `am to, etc. 1600 Shaks. A.Y.L. What is he that shall buy his
flocke and pasture? 1625 in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. "Tomorrow His Majesty
will be present to begin the Parliament
which is thought shall be removed to Oxford; in commands or instructions; n the
second person, “shall” is equivalent to an imperative. Chiefly in Biblical
language, of divine commandments, rendering the jussive future of the Hebrew
and Vulgate. In Old English the imperative mode is used in the ten
commandments. 1382 Wyclif Exod. Thow shalt not tak the Names of the Lord thi
God in veyn. So Coverdale, etc. b) In expositions: you shall understand, etc.
(that). c) In the formula you shall excuse (pardon) me. (now "must").
1595 Shaks. John. Your Grace shall pardon me, I will not backe. 1630 R.
Johnsons Kingd. and Commw. 191 You shall excuse me, for I eat no flesh on
Fridayes; n the *third* person. 1744 in Atkyns Chanc. Cases (1782) III. 166 The
words shall and may in general acts of parliament, or in private constitutions,
are to be construed imperatively, they must remove them; in the second and
third persons, expressing the determination by the Griceian utterer to bring
about some action, event, or state of things in the future, or (occasionally)
to refrain from hindering what is otherwise certain to take place, or is
intended by another person; n the second person. 1891 J. S. Winter Lumley. If
you would rather not stay then, you shall go down to South Kensington Square
then; in third person. 1591 Shaks. Two Gent. Verona shall not hold thee. 1604
Shaks. Oth. If there be any cunning Crueltie, That can torment him much, It
shall be his. 1891 J. S. Winter Lumley xiv, `Oh, yes, sir, she shall come back,
said the nurse. `Ill take care of that. `I will come back, said Vere; in
special interrogative uses, a) in the *first* person, used in questions to
which the expected answer is a command, direction, or counsel, or a resolve on
the speakers own part. a) in questions introduced by an interrogative pronoun
(in oblique case), adverb, or adverbial phrase. 1600 Fairfax Tasso. What shall
we doe? shall we be gouernd still, By this false hand? 1865 Kingsley Herew.
Where shall we stow the mare? b) in categorical questions, often expressing
indignant reprobation of a suggested course of action, the implication (or
implicature, or entailment) being that only a negative (or, with negative
question an affirmative) answer is conceivable. 1611 Shaks. Wint. T. Shall I
draw the Curtaine? 1802 Wordsw. To the Cuckoo i, O Cuckoo! shall I call thee
Bird, Or but a wandering Voice? 1891 J. S. Winter Lumley `Are you driving, or
shall I call you a cab? `Oh, no; Im driving, thanks. c) In *ironical*
affirmative in exclamatory sentence, equivalent to the above interrogative use,
cf. Ger. soll. 1741 Richardson Pamela, A pretty thing truly! Here I, a poor
helpless Girl, raised from Poverty and Distress, shall put on Lady-airs to a
Gentlewoman born. d) to stand shall I, shall I (later shill I, shall I: v.
shilly-shally), to be at shall I, shall I (not): to be vacillating, to
shilly-shally. 1674 R. Godfrey Inj. and Ab. Physic Such Medicines. that will
not stand shall I? shall I? but will fall to work on the Disease presently. b
Similarly in the *third* person, where the Subjects represents or includes the
utterer, or when the utterer is placing himself at anothers point of view. 1610
Shaks. Temp., Hast thou (which art but aire) a touch, a feeling Of their
afflictions, and shall not my selfe, One of their kinde be kindlier moud then
thou art? In the second and third person, where the expected answer is a
decision on the part of the utterer or of some person OTHER than the Subjects.
The question often serves as an impassioned repudiation of a suggestion (or
implicature) that something shall be permitted. 1450 Merlin `What shal be his
Names? `I will, quod she, `that it haue Names after my fader. 1600 Shaks.
A.Y.L.; What shall he haue that kild the Deare? 1737 Alexander Pope,
translating Horaces Epistle, And say, to which shall our applause belong, this
new court jargon, or the good old song? 1812 Crabbe Tales, Shall a wife
complain? In indirect question. 1865 Kingsley Herew, Let her say what shall be
done with it; as a mere auxiliary, forming, with present infinitive, the
future, and (with perfect infinitive) the future perfect tense. In Old English,
the notion of the future tense is ordinarily expressed by the present tense. To
prevent ambiguity, wile (will) is not unfrequently used as a future auxiliary,
sometimes retaining no trace of its initial usage, connected with the faculty
of volition, and cognate indeed with volition. On the other hand, sceal
(shall), even when rendering a Latin future, can hardly be said to have been
ever a mere future tense-sign in Old English. It always expressed something of
its original notion of obligation or necessity, so Hampshire is wrong in saying
I shall climb Mt. Everest is predictable. In Middle English, the present early
ceases to be commonly employed in futural usage, and the future is expressed by
shall or will, the former being much more common. The usage as to the
choice between the two auxiliaries, shall and will, has varied from time to
time. Since the middle of the seventeenth century, with Wallis, mere
predictable futurity is expressed in the *first* person by shall, in the second
and third by will, and vice versa. In oratio obliqua, usage allows either the
retention of the auxiliary actually used by the original utterer, or the
substitution of that which is appropriate to the point of view of the uttering
reporting; in Old English, ‘sceal,; while retaining its primary usage, serves
as a tense-sign in announcing a future event as fated or divinely decreed, cf.
Those spots mean measle. Hence shall has always been the auxiliary used, in all
persons, for prophetic or oracular announcements of the future, and for solemn
assertions of the certainty of a future event. 1577 in Allen Martyrdom Campion;
The queene neither ever was, nor is, nor ever shall be the head of the Church
of England. 1601 Shaks. Jul. C. Now do I Prophesie. A Curse shall light vpon
the limbes of men. b In the first person, "shall" has, from the early
ME. period, been the normal auxiliary for expressing mere futurity, without any
adventitious notion. (a) Of events conceived as independent of the volition of
the utterer. To use will in these cases is now a mark of, not public-school-educated
Oxonian, but Scottish, Irish, provincial, or extra-British idiom. 1595 in Cath.
Rec. Soc. Publ. V. 357 My frend, yow and I shall play no more at Tables now.
1605 Shaks. Macb. When shall we three meet againe? 1613 Shaks. Hen. VIII, Then
wee shall haue em, Talke vs to silence. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Toms C.; `But
what if you dont hit? `I shall hit, said George coolly; of voluntary action or
its intended result. Here I shall or we shall is always admissible except where
the notion of a present, as distinguished from a previous, decision or consent
is to be expressed, in which case ‘will’ shall be used. Further, I shall often
expresses a determination insisted on in spite of opposition. In the 16th c.
and earlier, I shall often occurs where I will would now be used. 1559 W.
Cunningham Cosmogr. Glasse, This now shall I alway kepe surely in memorye. 1601
Shaks. Alls Well; Informe him so tis our will he should.-I shall my liege. 1885
Ruskin On Old Road, note: Henceforward I shall continue to spell `Ryme without
our wrongly added h. c In the *second* person, shall as a mere future auxiliary
appears never to have been usual, but in categorical questions it is normal,
e.g. Shall you miss your train? I am afraid you will. d In the *third* person,
superseded by will, except when anothers statement or expectation respecting
himself is reported in the third person, e.g. He conveys that he shall not have
time to write. Even in this case will is still not uncommon, but in some
contexts leads to serious ambiguity. It might be therefore preferable, to some,
to use ‘he shall’ as the indirect rendering of ‘I shall.’ 1489 Caxton Sonnes of
Aymon ii. 64 Yf your fader come agayn from the courte, he shall wyll yelde you
to the kynge Charlemayne. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth, The effect of the
statute labour has always been, now is,
and probably shall continue to be, less productive than it might. Down to the
eighteenth century, shall, the auxiliary appropriate to the first person, is
sometimes used when the utterer refers to himself in the third person. Cf. the
formula: `And your petitioner shall ever pray. 1798 Kemble Let. in Pearsons
Catal. Mr. Kemble presents his respectful compliments to the Proprietors of the
`Monthly Mirror, and shall have great pleasure at being at all able to aid
them; in negative, or virtually negative, and interrogative use, shall often =
will be able to. 1600 Shaks. Sonn. lxv: How with this rage shall beautie hold a
plea. g) Used after a hypothetical clause or an imperative sentence in a
statementsof a result to be expected from some action or occurrence. Now (exc.
in the *first* person) usually replaced by will. But shall survives in literary
use. 1851 Dasent Jest and Earnest, Visit Rome and you shall find him [the Pope]
mere carrion. h) In clause expressing the object of a promise, or of an
expectation accompanied by hope or fear, now only where shall is the ordinary
future auxiliary, but down to the nineteenth century shall is often preferred
to will in the second and third persons. 1628 in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser., He is
confident that the blood of Christ shall wash away his sins. 1654 E. Nicholas
in N. Papers, I hope neither your Cosen Wat. Montagu nor Walsingham shall be permitted to discourse with
the D. of Gloucester; in impersonal phrases, "it shall be well,
needful", etc. (to do so and so). (now "will"). j) shall be,
added to a future date in clauses measuring time. 1617 Sir T. Wentworth in
Fortescue Papers. To which purpose my late Lord Chancelour gave his direction
about the 3. of Decembre shallbe-two-yeares; in the idiomatic use of the future
to denote what ordinarily or occasionally occurs under specified conditions,
shall was formerly the usual auxiliary. In the *second* and *third* persons,
this is now somewhat formal or rhetorical. Ordinary language substitutes will
or may. Often in antithetic statements coupled by an adversative conjunction or
by and with adversative force. a in the first person. 1712 Steele Spect. In
spite of all my Care, I shall every now and then have a saucy Rascal ride by
reconnoitring under my Windows. b) in
the *second* person. 1852 Spencer Ess. After knowing him for years, you shall
suddenly discover that your friends nose is slightly awry. c) in the *third*
person. 1793 W. Roberts Looker-On, One man shall approve the same thing that
another man shall condemn. 1870 M. Arnold St. Paul and Prot. It may well happen
that a man who lives and thrives under a monarchy shall yet theoretically
disapprove the principle of monarchy. Usage No. 10: in hypothetical, relative,
and temporal clauses denoting a future contingency, the future auxiliary is
shall for all persons alike. Where no ambiguity results, however, the present
tense is commonly used for the future, and the perfect for the future-perfect.
The use of shall, when not required for clearness, is, Grice grants, apt to
sound pedantic by non Oxonians. Formerly sometimes used to express the sense of
a present subjunctive. a) in hypothetical clauses. (shall I = if I shall) 1680
New Hampsh. Prov. Papers, If any Christian shall speak contempteously of the
Holy Scriptures, such person shall be
punished. b) in relative clauses, where the antecedent denotes an as yet
undetermined person or thing: 1811 Southey Let., The minister who shall first
become a believer in that book will obtain
a higher reputation than ever statesman did before him. 1874 R. Congreve Ess.
We extend our sympathies to the unborn generations which shall follow us on
this earth; in temporal clauses: 1830 Laws of Cricket in Nyren Yng. Cricketers
Tutor, If in striking, or at any other time, while the ball shall be in play,
both his feet be over the popping-crease; in clauses expressing the purposed
result of some action, or the object of a desire, intention, command, or
request, often admitting of being replaced by may. In Old English, and
occasionally as late as the seventeenth century, the present subjunctive was
used exactly as in Latin. a) in final clause usually introduced by that. In
this use modern idiom prefers should (22 a): see quot. 1611 below, and the appended
remarks. 1879 M. Pattison Milton At the age of nine and twenty, Milton has
already determined that this lifework shall be an epic poem; in relative
clause: 1599 Shaks. Hen. V, ii. iv. 40: As Gardeners doe with Ordure hide those
Roots that shall first spring. The choice between should and would follows the
same as shall and will as future auxiliaries, except that should must sometimes
be avoided on account of liability to be misinterpreted as = `ought to. In
present usage, should occurs mainly in the first person. In the other persons
it follows the use of shall. III Elliptical and quasi-elliptical uses. Usage
No. 24: with ellipsis of verb of motion: = `shall go; he use is common in OHG.
and OS., and in later HG., LG., and Du. In the Scandinavian languages it is
also common, and instances occur in MSw.] 1596 Shaks. 1 Hen. IV, That with our
small coniunction we should on. 1598 Shaks. Merry W. If the bottome were as
deepe as hell, I shold down; n questions, what shall = `what shall (it) profit,
`what good shall (I) do. Usage No. 26: with the sense `is due, `is proper, `is
to be given or applied. Cf. G. soll. Usage No. 27: a) with ellipsis of active
infinitive to be supplied from the context. 1892 Mrs. H. Ward David Grieve,
`No, indeed, I havnt got all I want, said Lucy `I never shall, neither; if I
shall. Now dial. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 96: Doun knelende on mi kne I take leve,
and if I schal, I kisse hire. 1390 Gower Conf., II. 96: I wolde kisse hire
eftsones if I scholde. 1871 Earle Philol. Engl. Tongue 203: The familiar
proposal to carry a basket, I will if I shall, that is, I am willing if you
will command me; I will if so required. 1886 W. Somerset Word-bk. Ill warn our
Tomll do it vor ee, nif he shall-i.e. if you wish. c) with generalized ellipsis
in proverbial phrase: needs must that needs shall = `he must whom fate compels.
Usage No. 28: a) with ellipsis of do (not occurring in the context). 1477
Norton Ord. Alch., O King that shall These Workes! b) the place of the inf. is
sometimes supplied by that or so placed at the beginning of the sentence. The
construction may be regarded as an ellipsis of "do". It is distinct
from the use (belonging to 27) in which so has the sense of `thus, `likewise,
or `also. In the latter there is usually inversion, as so shall I. 1888 J. S.
Winter Bootles Childr. iv: I should like to see her now shes grown up. `So you
shall. Usage No. 29: with ellipsis of be or passive inf., or with so in place
of this (where the preceding context has is, was, etc.). 1615 J. Chamberlain in
Crt. And Times Jas.; He is not yet executed, nor I hear not when he shall.
Surely he may not will that he be executed.
futurum intentionale: The future figures more prominently than anything because
in “Emissor communicates that p” there is the FUTURE ESSENTIAL. The emissor
intends that his addressee in a time later than the present will do this or
that. While Grice is always looking to cross the credibility/desirability
divide, there is a feature that is difficult to cross in the bridge of asses.
This is the shall vs. will. Grice is aware that ‘will,’ in the FIRST person, is
not a matter of prediction. When Grice says “I will go to Harborne,” that’s not
a prediction. He firmly contrasts it with “I shall go to Harborne” which is a
perfect prediction in the indicative mode. “I will go to Harborne” is in the
‘futurum intentionale.’ Grice is also aware that in the SECOND and THIRD
persons, ‘will’ reports something that the utterer must judge unpredictable. An
utterance like “Thou wilt go to London” and “He will go to London” is in the
‘futurum indicativus.’ This is one nuance that Prichard forgets in the analysis
of ‘willing’ that Grice eventually adopts. Prichard uses ‘will’ derivatively,
and followed by a ‘that’-clause. Prichard quotes from the New-World, where the
dialect is slightly different. For William James had said, “I will that the
distant table slides over the floor toward me. And it does not.” Since James is
using ‘will’ in the first person, the utterance is indeed NOT in the
indicative, but the ‘intentional’ mode. In the case of the ‘communicatum,’
things get complicated, since U intends that A will believe that… In which
case, U’s intention (and thus will) is directed towards the ‘will’ of his
addressee, too, even if it is merely to adopt a ‘belief.’ So what would be the
primary uses of the ‘will.’ In the first person, “I will go to Harborne” is in
the futurum intentionale. It is used to report the utterer’s will. In the
second and third person – “Thou will go to Harborne” and “He will go to
Harborne,” the utterer uses the futurum indicativum and utters a statement
which is predictable. Since analytic
philosophers specify the analysis in the third person (“U means that…”) one has
to be careful. For ‘futurum intentionale’ we have ‘will’ in the first person,
and ‘shall’ in the second and third persons. So for the first group, U means
that he SHALL go. In the second group, U means that his addressee or a third
party WILL go. Grice adopts a subscript variant, stick with ‘will,’ but add the
mode afterwards: so will-ind. will be ‘futurum indicativum,’ and will-int. will
be futurum intentionale. Grice distinguishes the ‘futurum imperativum.’ This
may be seen as a sub-class of the ‘futurum intentionale,’ as applied to the
second and third persons, to avoid the idea that one can issue a
‘self-command.’ Grice has a futurum imperativum, in Latin ending in -tō(te),
used to request someone to do something, or if something else happens first.
“Sī quid acciderit, scrībitō. If anything happens, write to me' (Cicero). ‘Ubi
nōs lāverimus, lavātō.’ 'When*we* have finished washing, *you* get washed.’
(Terence). ‘Crūdam si edēs, in acētum intinguitō.’ ‘If you eat cabbage raw, dip
it in vinegar.’ (Cato). ‘Rīdētō multum quī tē, Sextille, cinaedum dīxerit et
digitum porrigitō medium.’ 'Laugh loudly at anyone who calls you camp,
Sextillus, and stick up your middle finger at him.' (Martial). In Latin, some verbs have only a futurum
imperativum, e. g., scītō 'know', mementō 'remember'. In Latin, there is also a
third person imperative also ending in -tō, plural -ntō exists. It is used in
very formal contexts such as laws. ‘Iūsta imperia suntō, īsque cīvēs pārentō.’
'Orders must be just, and citizens must obey them' (Cicero). Other ways of
expressing a command or request are made with expressions such as cūrā ut 'take
care to...', fac ut 'see to it that...' or cavē nē 'be careful that you
don't...' Cūrā ut valeās. 'Make sure you keep well' (Cicero). Oddly, in Roman,
the futurum indicativum can be used for a polite commands. ‘Pīliae salūtem dīcēs
et Atticae.’ 'Will you please give my
regards to Pilia and Attica?' (Cicero. The OED has will, would. It is traced to
Old English willan, pres.t. wille, willaþ, pa. t. wolde. Grice was especially
interested to check Jamess and Prichards use of willing that, Prichards shall
will and the will/shall distinction; the present tense will; transitive uses,
with simple obj. or obj. clause; occas. intr. 1 trans. with simple obj.:
desire, wish for, have a mind to, `want (something); sometimes implying also
`intend, purpose. 1601 Shaks. (title) Twelfe Night, Or what you will. 1654
Whitlock Zootomia 44 Will what befalleth, and befall what will. 1734 tr.
Rollins Anc. Hist. V. 31 He that can do what ever he will is in great danger of
willing what he ought not. b intr. with well or ill, or trans. with sbs. of
similar meaning (e.g. good, health), usually with dat. of person: Wish (or
intend) well or ill (to some one), feel or cherish good-will or ill-will. Obs.
(cf. will v.2 1 b). See also well-willing; to will well that: to be willing
that. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. I wyl wel that thou say, and yf thou say ony good,
thou shalt be pesybly herde. Usage No. 2: trans. with obj. clause (with vb. in
pres. subj., or in periphrastic form with should), or acc. and inf.: Desire,
wish; sometimes implying also `intend, purpose (that something be done or
happen). 1548 Hutten Sum of Diuinitie K viij, God wylle all men to be saued;
enoting expression (usually authoritative) of a wish or intention: Determine,
decree, ordain, enjoin, give order (that something be done). 1528 Cromwell in
Merriman Life and Lett. (1902) I. 320 His grace then wille that thellection of
a new Dean shalbe emonges them of the colledge; spec. in a direction or
instruction in ones will or testament; hence, to direct by will (that something
be done). 1820 Giffords Compl. Engl. Lawyer. I do hereby will and direct that
my executrix..do excuse and release the said sum of 100l. to him; figurative usage. of an abstract thing (e.g.
reason, law): Demands, requires. 1597 Shaks. 2 Hen. IV, Our Battaile is more
full of Namess then yours Then Reason will, our hearts should be as good. Usage
No. 4 transf. (from 2). Intends to express, means; affirms, maintains. 1602
Dolman La Primaud. Fr. Acad. Hee will that this authority should be for a
principle of demonstration. 2 With dependent infinitive (normally without
"to"); desire to, wish to, have a mind to (do something); often also
implying intention. 1697 Ctess DAunoys Trav. I will not write to you often,
because I will always have a stock of News to tell you, which..is pretty long
in picking up. 1704 Locke Hum. Und. The
great Encomiasts of the Chineses, do all to a man agree and will convince us
that the Sect of the Literati are Atheists. 6 In relation to anothers desire or
requirement, or to an obligation of some kind: Am (is, are) disposed or willing
to, consent to; †in early use sometimes = deign or condescend to.With the (rare
and obs.) imper. use, as in quot. 1490, cf. b and the corresponding negative
use in 12 b. 1921 Times Lit. Suppl. 10 Feb. 88/3 Literature thrives where
people will read what they do not agree with, if it is good. b In 2nd person,
interrog., or in a dependent clause after beg or the like, expressing a request
(usually courteous; with emphasis, impatient). 1599 Shaks. Hen. V, ii. i. 47
Will you shogge off? 1605 1878 Hardy Ret. Native v. iii, O, O, O,..O, will you
have done! Usage No. 7 Expressing voluntary action, or conscious intention
directed to the doing of what is expressed by the principal verb (without
temporal reference as in 11, and without emphasis as in 10): = choose to
(choose v. B. 3 a). The proper word for this idea, which cannot be so precisely
expressed by any other. 1685 Baxter Paraphr., When God will tell us we shall
know. Usage No. 8 Expressing natural disposition to do something, and hence
habitual action: Has the habit, or `a way, of --ing; is addicted or accustomed
to --ing; habitually does; sometimes connoting `may be expected to (cf. 15).
1865 Ruskin Sesame, Men, by their nature, are prone to fight; they will fight
for any cause, or for none; expressing potentiality, capacity, or sufficiency:
Can, may, is able to, is capable of --ing; is (large) enough or sufficient
to.†it will not be: it cannot be done or brought to pass; it is all in vain.
So, †will it not be? 1833 N. Arnott Physics, The heart will beat after removal
from the body. Usage No. 10 As a strengthening of sense 7, expressing
determination, persistence, and the like (without temporal reference as in 11);
purposes to, is determined to. 1539 Bible (Great) Isa. lxvi. 6, I heare ye
voyce of the Lorde, that wyll rewarde, etc; recompence his enemyes;
emphatically. Is fully determined to; insists on or persists in --ing:
sometimes with mixture of sense 8. (In 1st pers. with implication of futurity,
as a strengthening of sense 11 a. Also fig. = must inevitably, is sure to. 1892
E. Reeves Homeward Bound viii. 239, I have spent 6,000 francs to come here..and
I will see it! c In phr. of ironical or critical force referring to anothers
assertion or opinion. Now arch. exc. in will have it; 1591 Shaks. 1 Hen. VI,
This is a Riddling Merchant for the nonce, He will be here, and yet he is not
here. 1728 Chambers Cycl., Honey, Some naturalists will have honey to be of a
different quality, according to the difference of the flowers..the bees suck it
from. Also, as auxiliary of the future tense with implication (entailment
rather than cancellable implicatum) of intention, thus distinguished from
‘shall,’ v. B. 8, where see note); in 1st person: sometimes in slightly
stronger sense = intend to, mean to. 1600 Shaks. A.Y.L., To morrow will we be
married. 1607 Shaks. Cor., Ile run away Till I am bigger, but then Ile fight.
1777 Clara Reeve Champion of Virtue, Never fear it..I will speak to Joseph
about it. b In 2nd and 3rd pers., in questions or indirect statements. 1839
Lane Arab. Nts., I will cure thee
without giving thee to drink any potion When King Yoonán heard his words,
he..said.., How wilt thou do this? c will do (with omission of "I"):
an expression of willingness to carry out a request. Cf. wilco. colloq. 1967 L.
White Crimshaw Memorandum, `And find out where the bastard was `Will do, Jim
said. 13 In 1st pers., expressing immediate intention: "I will" = `I
am now going to, `I proceed at once to. 1885 Mrs. Alexander At Bay, Very well;
I will wish you good-evening. b In 1st pers. pl., expressing a proposal: we
will (†wule we) = `let us. 1798 Coleridge Nightingale 4 Come, we will rest on
this old mossy bridge!, c figurative, as in It will rain, (in 3rd pers.) of a
thing: Is ready to, is on the point of --ing. 1225 Ancr. R. A treou þet wule
uallen, me underset hit mid on oðer treou. 14 In 2nd and 3rd pers., as
auxiliary expressing mere futurity, forming (with pres. inf.) the future, and
(with pf. inf.) the future pf. tense: corresponding to "shall" in the
1st pers. (see note s.v. shall v. B. 8). 1847 Tennyson Princess iii. 12 Rest,
rest, on mothers breast, Father will come to thee soon. b As auxiliary of
future substituted for the imper. in mild injunctions or requests. 1876 Ruskin
St. Marks Rest. That they should use their own balances, weights, and measures;
(not by any means false ones, you will please to observe). 15 As auxiliary of
future expressing a contingent event, or a result to be expected, in a supposed
case or under particular conditions (with the condition expressed by a
conditional, temporal, or imper. clause, or otherwise implied). 1861 M.
Pattison Ess. The lover of the
Elizabethan drama will readily recal many such allusions; b with pers.sSubjects
(usually 1st pers. sing.), expressing a voluntary act or choice in a supposed
case, or a conditional promise or undertaking: esp. in asseverations, e.g. I
will die sooner than, I’ll be hanged if, etc.). 1898 H. S. Merriman Rodens
Corner. But I will be hanged if I see what it all means, now; xpressing a
determinate or necessary consequence (without the notion of futurity). 1887
Fowler Deductive Logic, From what has been said it will be seen that I do not
agree with Mr. Mill. Mod. If, in a syllogism, the middle term be not distributed
in either premiss, there will be no conclusion; ith the notion of futurity
obscured or lost: = will prove or turn out to, will be found on inquiry to; may
be supposed to, presumably does. Hence (chiefly Sc. and north. dial.) in
estimates of amount, or in uncertain or approximate statements, the future
becoming equivalent to a present with qualification: e.g. it will be = `I think
it is or `it is about; what will that be? = `what do you think that is? 1584
Hornby Priory in Craven Gloss. Where on 40 Acres there will be xiij.s. iv.d.
per acre yerely for rent. 1791 Grose Olio (1792) 106, I believe he will be an
Irishman. 1791 Grose Olio. C. How far is it to Dumfries? W. It will be twenty
miles. 1812 Brackenridge Views Louisiana, The agriculture of this territory
will be very similar to that of Kentucky. 1876 Whitby Gloss. sThis word we have
only once heard, and that will be twenty years ago. 16 Used where
"shall" is now the normal auxiliary, chiefly in expressing mere
futurity: since 17th c. almost exclusively in Scottish, Irish, provincial, or
extra-British use (see shall. 1602 Shaks. Ham. I will win for him if I can: if
not, Ile gaine nothing but my shame, and the odde hits. 1825 Scott in Lockhart
Ballantyne-humbug. I expect we will have some good singing. 1875 E. H. Dering
Sherborne. `Will I start, sir? asked the Irish groom. Usage No. 3 Elliptical
and quasi-elliptical uses; n absol. use, or with ellipsis of obj. clause as in
2: in meaning corresponding to senses 5-7.if you will is sometimes used
parenthetically to qualify a word or phrase: = `if you wish it to be so called,
`if you choose or prefer to call it so. 1696 Whiston The. Earth. Gravity
depends entirely on the constant and efficacious, and, if you will, the
supernatural and miraculous Influence of Almighty God. 1876 Ruskin St. Marks
Rest. Very savage! monstrous! if you will. b In parenthetic phr. if God will
(†also will God, rarely God will), God willing: if it be the will of God,
`D.V.In OE. Gode willi&asg.ende (will v.2) = L. Deo volente. 1716 Strype
in Thoresbys Lett. Next week, God willing, I take my journey to my Rectory in
Sussex; fig. Demands, requires (absol. or ellipt. use of 3 c). 1511 Reg. Privy
Seal Scot. That na seculare personis have intrometting with thaim uther wais
than law will; I will well: I assent, `I should think so indeed. (Cf. F. je
veux bien.) Usage No. 18: with ellipsis of a vb. of motion. 1885 Bridges Eros
and Psyche Aug. I will to thee oer the stream afloat. Usage No. 19: with
ellipsis of active inf. to be supplied from the context. 1836 Dickens Sk. Boz,
Steam Excurs., `Will you go on deck? `No, I will not. This was said with a most
determined air. 1853 Dickens Bleak Ho. lii, I cant believe it. Its not that I
dont or I wont. I cant! 1885 Mrs. Alexander Valeries Fate vi, `Do you know that
all the people in the house will think it very shocking of me to walk with
you?.. `The deuce they will!; With generalized ellipsis, esp. in proverbial
saying (now usually as in quot. 1562, with will for would). 1639 J. Clarke
Paroem. 237 He that may and will not, when he would he shall not. c With so or
that substituted for the omitted inf. phr.: now usually placed at the beginning
of the sentence. 1596 Shaks. Tam. Shr. Hor. I promist we would beare his charge
of wooing Gremio. And so we wil. d Idiomatically used in a qualifying phr. with
relative, equivalent to a phr. with indef. relative in -ever; often with a
thing as subj., becoming a mere synonym of may: e.g. shout as loud as you will
= `however loud you (choose to) shout; come what will = `whatever may come; be
that as it will = `however that may be. 1732 Pope Mor. Ess. The ruling Passion,
be it what it will, The ruling Passion conquers Reason still. 20 With ellipsis
of pass. inf. A. 1774 Goldsm. Surv. Exp. Philos. The airs force is compounded
of its swiftness and density, and as these are encreased, so will the force of
the wind; in const. where the ellipsis may be either of an obj. clause or of an
inf. a In a disjunctive qualifying clause or phr. usually parenthetic, as
whether he will or no, will he or not, (with pron. omitted) will or no, (with
or omitted) will he will he not, will he nill he (see VI. below and
willy-nilly), etc.In quot. 1592 vaguely = `one way or another, `in any case.
For the distinction between should and would, v. note s.v. shall; in a
noun-clause expressing the object of desire, advice, or request, usually with a
person as subj., implying voluntary action as the desired end: thus
distinguished from should, which may be used when the persons will is not in
view. Also (almost always after wish) with a thing as Subjects, in which case
should can never be substituted because it would suggest the idea of command or
compulsion instead of mere desire. Cf. shall; will; willest; willeth; wills;
willed (wIld); also: willian, willi, wyll, wille, wil, will, willode, will,
wyllede, wylled, willyd, ied, -it, -id, willed; wijld, wilde, wild, willid,
-yd, wylled,willet, willed; willd(e, wild., OE. willian wk. vb. = German
“willen.” f. will sb.1, 1 trans. to wish, desire; sometimes with implication of
intention: = will. 1400 Lat. and Eng. Prov. He þt a lytul me 3euyth to me
wyllyth optat longe lyffe. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. v. 21-24 Who so
euer hath gotten to hymselfe the charitie of the gospell, whyche wylleth wel to
them that wylleth yll. 1581 A. Hall Iliad, By Mineruas helpe, who willes you
all the ill she may. A. 1875 Tennyson Q. Mary i. iv, A great party in the state
Wills me to wed her; To assert, affirm: = will v.1 B. 4. 1614 Selden Titles
Hon. None of this excludes Vnction before, but only wils him the first
annointed by the Pope. 2 a to direct by ones will or testament (that something
be done, or something to be done); to dispose of by will; to bequeath or
devise; to determine by the will; to attempt to cause, aim at effecting by
exercise of will; to set the mind with conscious intention to the performance
or occurrence of something; to choose or decide to do something, or that
something shall be done or happen. Const. with simple obj., acc. and inf.,
simple inf. (now always with to), or obj. clause; also absol. or intr. (with as
or so). Nearly coinciding in meaning with will v.1 7, but with more explicit
reference to the mental process of volition. 1630 Prynne Anti-Armin. 119 He had
onely a power, not to fall into sinne vnlesse he willed it. 1667 Milton P.L. So
absolute she seems..that what she wills to do or say, Seems wisest. 1710 J.
Clarke tr. Rohaults Nat. Philos. If I will to move my Arm, it is presently
moved. 1712 Berkeley Pass. Obed. He that willeth the end, doth will the
necessary means conducive to that end. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. All shall be as
God wills. 1880 Meredith Tragic Com. So great, heroical, giant-like, that what
he wills must be. 1896 Housman Shropsh. Lad xxx, Others, I am not the first,
Have willed more mischief than they durst; intr. to exercise the will; to
perform the mental act of volition. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. To will, is to bend
our soules to the hauing or doing of that which they see to be good. 1830
Mackintosh Eth. Philos. Wks.. But what could induce such a being to will or to
act? 1867 A. P. Forbes Explan. Is this infinitely powerful and intelligent
Being free? wills He? loves He? c trans. To bring or get (into, out of, etc.)
by exercise of will. 1850 L. Hunt Table-t. (1882) 184 Victims of opium have
been known to be unable to will themselves out of the chair in which they were
sitting. d To control (another person), or induce (another) to do something, by
the mere exercise of ones will, as in hypnotism. 1882 Proc. Soc. Psych.
Research I. The one to be `willed would go to the other end of the house, if
desired, whilst we agreed upon the thing to be done. 1886 19th Cent. They are
what is called `willed to do certain things desired by the ladies or gentlemen
who have hold of them. 1897 A. Lang Dreams & Ghosts iii. 59 A young
lady, who believed that she could play the `willing game successfully without
touching the person `willed; to express or communicate ones will or wish with
regard to something, with various shades of meaning, cf. will, v.1 3.,
specifically: a to enjoin, order; to decree, ordain, a) with personal obj.,
usually with inf. or clause. 1481 Cov. Leet Bk. 496 We desire and also will you
that vnto oure seid seruaunt ye yeue your aid. 1547 Edw. VI in Rymer Foedera,
We Wyll and Commaunde yowe to Procede in the seid Matters. 1568 Grafton Chron.,
Their sute was smally regarded, and shortly after they were willed to silence.
1588 Lambarde Eiren. If a man do lie in awaite to rob me, and (drawing his
sword upon me) he willeth me to deliver my money. 1591 Shaks. 1 Hen. VI We doe
no otherwise then wee are willd. 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden P 4, Vp he was had
and.willed to deliuer vp his weapon. 1656 Hales Gold. Rem. The King in the
Gospel, that made a Feast, and..willed his servants to go out to the high-ways
side. 1799 Nelson in Nicolas Disp., Willing and requiring all Officers and men
to obey you; 1565 Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Classicum, By sounde of trumpet to will
scilence. 1612 Bacon Ess., Of Empire. It is common with Princes (saith Tacitus)
to will contradictories. 1697 Dryden Æneis i. 112 Tis yours, O Queen! to will
The Work, which Duty binds me to fulfil. 1877 Tennyson Harold vi. i, Get thou
into thy cloister as the king Willd it.; to pray, request, entreat; = desire v.
6. 1454 Paston Lett. Suppl. As for the questyon that ye wylled me to aske my
lord, I fond hym yet at no good leyser. 1564 Haward tr. Eutropius. The Romaines
sent ambassadoures to him, to wyll him to cease from battayle. 1581 A. Hall
Iliad, His errand done, as he was willde, he toke his flight from thence. 1631
[Mabbe] Celestina. Did I not will you I should not be wakened? 1690 Dryden
Amphitryon i. i, He has sent me to will and require you to make a swinging long
Night for him; fig. of a thing, to require, demand; also, to induce, persuade a
person to do something. 1445 in Anglia. Constaunce willeth also that thou doo
noughte with weyke corage. Cable and Baugh note that one important s. of
prescriptions that now form part of all our grammars -- that governing the use
of will and shall -- has its origin in this period. Previous to 1622 no grammar
recognized any distinction between will and shall. In 1653 Wallis in his
Grammatica Linguae Anglicanae states in Latin and for the benefit of Europeans
that Subjectsive intention is expressed by will in the first person, by shall
in the second and third, while simple factual indicative predictable futurity
is expressed by shall in the first person, by will in the second and third. It
is not until the second half of the eighteenth century that the use in
questions and subordinate clauses is explicitly defined. In 1755 Johnson, in
his Dictionary, states the rule for questions, and in 1765 William Ward, in his
Grammar, draws up for the first time the full set of prescriptions that
underlies, with individual variations, the rules found in later tracts. Wards
pronouncements are not followed generally by other grammarians until Lindley
Murray gives them greater currency in 1795. Since about 1825 they have often
been repeated in grammars, v. Fries, The periphrastic future with will and
shall. Will qua modal auxiliary never had an s. The absence of conjugation is a
very old common Germanic phenomenon. OE 3rd person present indicative of willan
(and of the preterite-present verbs) is not distinct from the 1st person
present indicative. That dates back at least to CGmc, or further if one looks
just as the forms and ignore tense and/or mood). Re: Prichard: "Prichard
wills that he go to London. This is Prichards example, admired by Grice
("but I expect not pleasing to Maucaulays ears"). The -s is
introduced to indicate a difference between the modal and main verb use (as in
Prichard and Grice) of will. In fact, will, qua modal, has never been used with
a to-infinitive. OE uses present-tense forms to refer to future events as well
as willan and sculan. willan would give a volitional nuance; sculan, an
obligational nuance. Its difficult to find an example of weorthan used to
express the future, but that doesnt mean it didnt happen. In insensitive
utterers, will has very little of volition about it, unless one follows Walliss
observation for for I will vs. I shall. Most probably use ll, or be going
to for the future.
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