And Grice

----

by J. L. Speranza
for the Grice Circle.

Horn wrote "A natural history of negation", Jennings wrote "The genealogy of disjunction" and Jackson wrote on "Conditionals". Someone should wrote, perhaps in some exotic lingo, on 'and'.

This is Grice on 'and'.

WoW:68.

His example:



A: It will rain tomorrow. It will be fine the day after.
B: That's not so.
A: What's not so?
B: That it will rain tomorrow AND be fine the day after.


Grice comments:

--- he has already provided a 'metier' for the squiggly or negation (~).

"As regards 'and': in many cases the

idea of CONJUNCTION might be regarded

as present even without

an explicit conjunctive device".


----- if you've ever payed any attention to the way your aunt speaks!

---

Grice goes on:

"To say, 'It is raining' (pause). it will rain harder soon,'

seems to say no more no less than would be said by saying

'It is raining, and it will rain harder soon'."

----

"In spite of this kind of emptiness in the notion

of conjunction, we do, however, need EXPLICIT

conjunctive devices [note the term, 'device'] in order

to incorporate the expressive of conjunctive [MOLECULAR]

propositions into the expression of more complex molecular

propositions."


---

"For example, we need to be able to DENY"

via ~

"a conjunctive utterance without committing

ourselves with regard to the truth

or falsity of the individual conjunts."

---

At this point he gives that example. A variant:



A: Well, what did you expect. The Falklands War, right?

B: Right. Women are women and war is war.

A: That's not so.

B: What's not so?

A: That women are women and war is war.


----

??



---

Grice goes on:

"B's final remark ["That it will rain tomorrow AND be fine the

day after"] might rest on" various ideas:


----

FIRST IDEA:

The remark might rest on the idea

"that the conjuncts CANNOT BOTH be true, since

it is NEVER fine after only one day's rain.


---

SECOND IDEA:

But the remark might rest on another idea, to wit:

"that one particular conjunct is false."

---

THIRD IDEA.

Or finally, it might rest on yet a third idea:

"that BOTH conjuncts are false".

---

--------

(WoW: 68).


Recall this is Grice's genitorial project for 'talking pirots' (not parots). For each device you have to find a metier. If you have the metier, then you have the device. The metier has to do with argumentation, or friendly dialogue, if you must!