Tuesday, April 7, 2020
Why does H. P. Grice change J. O. Urmson's subtle example of the briber who does not mean?
(Urmson)2 There is a range of examples connected with
the provision by U (the utterer) of an inducement, or supposed
inducement, so that A (the recipient, or audience) shall perform
some action. Suppose a prisoner of war to be thought by his
captors to possess some information which they want him to
reveal; he knows that they want him to give this information.
They subject him to torture by applying thumbscrews. The
appropriate analysans for "They meant something by applying the
thumbscrews (that he should tell them what they wanted to
know)" are fulfilled:
(I) They applied the thumbscrews with the intention of
producing a certain response on the part of the victim;
(2) They intended that he should recognize (know, think)
that they applied the thumbscrews with the intention of
producing this response;
(3) They intended that the prisoner's recognition (thought)
that they had the intention mentioned in (2) should be
at least part of his reason for producing the response
mentioned.
2J. 0. Urmson, in conversation.
152
UTTERER'S MEANING AND INTENTIONS
If in general to specify in (i) the nature of an intended response
is to specify what was meant, it should be correct not only to say
that the torturers meant something by applying the thumbscrews, but also to say that they meant that he should (was to) tell
them what they wished to know. But in fact one would not wish
to say either of these things; only that they meant him to tell. A
similar apparent counterexample can be constructed out of a
case of bribery (Urmson's original example).
A restriction seems to be required, and one which might serve
to eliminate this range of counterexamples can be identified from
a comparison of the two following examples:
(a) I go into a tobacconist's shop, ask for a packet of my favorite
cigarettes, and when the unusually suspicious tobacconist shows
that he wants to see the color of my money before he hands over
the goods, I put down the price of the cigarettes on the counter.
Here nothing has been meant.
(b) I go to my regular tobacconist (from whom I also purchase
other goods) for a packet of my regular brand X, the price of
which is distinctive (say 43 cents). I say nothing, but put down
43 cents. The tobacconist recognizes my need, and hands over
the packet. Here, I think, by putting down 43 cents I meant
something-namely, that I wanted a packet of brand X. I have
at the same time provided an inducement.
The distinguishing feature of the second example seems to be
that here the tobacconist recognized, and was intended to
recognize, what he was intended to do from my "utterance" (my
putting down the money), whereas in the first example this was
not the case. Nor is it the case with respect to the torture example.
So one might propose that the analysis of meaning be amended
accordingly (Redefinition I):
"U meant something by uttering x" is true if:
(i) U intended, by uttering x, to induce a certain response inA
(2) U intended A to recognize, at least in partfrom the utterance
of x, that U intended to produce that response
(3) U intended the fulfillment of the intention mentioned in
(2) to be at least in part A's reason for fulfilling the intention mentioned in (i).
x53
H. P. GRICE
While this might cope with this range of counterexamples, there
are others for which it is insufficient.
(ii) (Stampc, Strawson, Schiffcr)3
(a) (Stampc) A man is playing bridge
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