J. L. Austin on "the metaphysics of the stone age": "Ordinary language has no claim to be the last word, if there is such a thing. It imbodies, indeed, something BETTER THAN the metaphysics of the Sone Age, namely, ... the inherited experience and acumen of MANY GENERATIONS of [cavemen and] men" since. "A Plea for Excuses".

Speranza

"Certainly ordinary language has no claim to be the last word, if there is such a thing. It embodies, indeed, something better than the metaphysics of the Stone Age, namely, as was said, the inherited experience and acumen of many generations of men" J. L. Austin
("A Plea for Excuses," Philosophical Papers, third ed., ed. J. O. Urmson and G. J. Warnock [Oxford: OUP, 1979], 185). Thanks to Prof. William Day, Le Moyne College for the correction of this quote.

KEYWORD: Grice, stone-age physics -- the physics of the Stone Age.