Grice on "The Ordinary Language Approach to Philosophy"

Speranza

Jones was wondering what's behind this idea by Grice that while there might (note the "might", modal) be an "American school of latter-day nominalists" (Quine, Scheffler, Martin, ...) it would be odd to refer to a 'school' of ordinary-language philosophers of the Austinian generation (the new Play Group: Austin, Hare, Urmson, Grice, Strawson, Warnock, Nowell-Smith).

Besides the point Grice makes in "Reply to Richards", to the effect that there was no dogma that unified the members of the play group, he expands on this in his essay in WoW --where, on p. 171, he comments on the diverse 'methodologies' or approaches held by practitioners of this type of philosophy.

(When I mention 'Austin's generation', I want to distinguish this -- (Austin, b. 1911, Grice, b. 1913) -- as different from what we may call the "Gilbert Ryle group" -- (Ryle, b. 1900) -- which may also be said to constitute 'Oxford school of ordinary language philosophy').

On p. 171 of W. O. W. then Grice refers to the diversity:

"I am sure that one could find
numerous METHODOLOGICAL
divergences among Oxford
philosophers"

----

Grice was further amused in this field by Gustav Bergmann -- would WOULD use a label to refer to this alleged 'school': "Futilitarians", or "English" futilitarians, to be more ironic.

Recall that in "Reply to Richards", Grice is reminiscing and providing an ideological background to Austin's Play Group -- everyone with a proper 'public' school education, as it were, which made them specially sensitive to issues of 'ordinary usage' --, and he is also responding to simplistic views of this alleged school by 'foreigners' like Gellner.

--

and so on.

The Grice Papers, now deposited in the Bancroft Library -- have many references to this 'group'. Grice knew VERY well where his place was in the 'history of 20th century philosophy', and this may be a good reminder of this new publication:

"The Oxford Handbook of the History of Analytic Philosophy"

From amazon, below:

"During the course of the twentieth century, analytic philosophy developed into the dominant philosophical tradition in the English-speaking world. In the last two decades, it has become increasingly influential in the rest of the world, from continental Europe to Latin America and Asia. At the same time there has been deepening interest in the origins and history of analytic philosophy, as analytic philosophers examine the foundations of their tradition and question many of the assumptions of their predecessors. This has led to greater historical self-consciousness among analytic philosophers and more scholarly work on the historical contexts in which analytic philosophy developed. This historical turn in analytic philosophy has been gathering pace since the 1990s, and the present volume is the most comprehensive collection of essays to date on the history of analytic philosophy. It contains state-of-the-art contributions from many of the leading scholars in the field, all of the contributions specially commissioned. The introductory essays discuss the nature and historiography of analytic philosophy, accompanied by a detailed chronology and bibliography. Part One elucidates the origins of analytic philosophy, with special emphasis on the work of Frege, Russell, Moore, and Wittgenstein. Part Two explains the development of analytic philosophy, from Oxford realism and logical positivism to the most recent work in analytic philosophy, and includes essays on ethics, aesthetics, and political philosophy as well as on the areas usually seen as central to analytic philosophy, such as philosophy of language and mind. Part Three explores certain key themes in the history of analytic philosophy."