The Pirot Walk, The Pirot Talk

Grice is following a line first drawn by Russell and Carnap as he explicitly acknowledges in "How Pirots Karulize Elatically: Some Simpler Ways"

"i. A pirot can be said to

potch
of some obble o

as

(a) fang or as

(b) feng.

ii. Also:

to

cotch of some
obble o,

as

(a) fang or
(b) feng;

iii. or to

cotch of one obble o and

anotherobble o'

as being

fid to one another."

---

In symbols

---

For (i)

(a)

(Ex)(Ey).Px & Oy & POTCH(x, y, fang)

(b)

Ex.Ey.Px & Oy & POTCH(x, y, feng)

Again, for (ii)

(a)

(Ex)(Ey).Px & Oy & COTCH(x, y, fang)

(b)

Ex.Ey.Px & Ox & COTCH(x, y, feng)


And for

(iii)

ExEy.Px & Oz & Oy & COTCH(x, FID(y,z))

--- That's the syntax level.

Next comes the _semantics_ or interpretation:

Grice:

"Let's say that pirots (as Russell and Carnap conceived them)
inhabit a (fantasy) world of obbles ['material' objects].

"To potch
is something like to perceive"

"To cotch something like to think."

"'Feng' and 'fang' are
possible descriptions, much
like our adjectives."

"Finally, "fid" is a
possible relation between obbles."

---

In the (iii) stage Grice is alreay providing some symbolisation for 'content' internalisation. The perceiver or cognitive subject perceives or cognises two objects, x, y, as holding a 'relation' of some type.

There is a higher level pirots can reach when the object of their potchings and cotchings is not so much objects but states of affairs.

It's then that the

truth-functional operators will be brougth to existence

-- conjunction

cotching (p & q)

-- disjunction

cotching (p v q)

-- conditional

cotching (p --> q)

Before that, a pirot will be able to reject a content, refuse-thinking

cothing (- p)

-- Etc.

Once the pirot perceives ANOTHER pirot, the reciprocals get more complicated.

A pirot will 'cotch' that a pirot !-judges that p.

And if this pirot is co-operative, he will honour his partner's goal by adopting it temporarily:

POTCH (x (Potch (y, !p)) --> POTCH (x, !p).

Etc.

But by then, it's hardly _simpler_ ways. Etc.