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Paul Grice, "Logic and Conversation" (1967)

Judith Butler, "What's wrong with 'All Lives Matter'?" (2015)

As Grice argues, philosophers who examine logic and language often fall into one of two camps:

Ordinary Language and Conversation

Informalists

Formalists

  • science isn't the only measure of the adequacy of language
  • formal devices (or symbols) to represent expressions used in natural language.
  • Grice looks at the way we use language in everyday contexts in order to determine how the words we use convey meaning.
  • too many "metaphysically loaded" terms in natural language (186).
  • valid inferences in natural language possible without formalized logic
  • importance of unsystematic language use
  • attempt to construct "ideal language" in service to science
  • We often convey meaning not just by what we state explicitly but also by what we imply with our remarks.

Conversation and Meaning

We don't just refer to the fixed meanings of terms in order to determine what someone means when they utter x.

We also refer to the context of a conversation in order to determine meaning.

  • Formalized accounts of language often assume that the meanings of terms and utterances are fixed. But these formal accounts might only reveal a part of what governs meaning. According to Grice, meaning is also governed by conversational conventions.

Our utterances are rarely disconnected from other utterances: they often occur in the context of a conversation, or in a web of utterances.

The Cooperative Principle

Quantity:

1. Make your contribution as informative as is required (for the current purposes of the exchange).

2. Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.

Quality:

1. Do not say what you believe to be false.

2. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

Conversation is dependent on cooperation.

Manner:

Relation:

1. Be relevant.

1. Avoid obscurity of expression.

2. Avoid ambiguity.

3. Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity).

4. Be orderly.

Or, "Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged" (187).

Discussion

Examples of conversational implicature

  • Can you think of any examples of conversational implicature that you have recently heard and/or used?

(In the context of a letter of recommendation for graduate school)

"Dear Sir, Mr. X's command of English is excellent, and his attendance at tutorials has been regular."

  • How might Grice's argument still depend upon the existence of some sort of fixed meaning of terms?

Andre: "How is Charlie getting on in his job?"

Beth: "Oh, quite well, I think; he likes his colleagues, and he hasn't been to prison yet."

  • According to Butler, what is implied by the statements, "All lives matter" and "Black lives matter"? Why does she think that "ALM" an inappropriate response to "BLM"?

How does the context of a conversation govern the meaning of the term "fake news"?

  • What do each of these statements do? What can they accomplish simply in virtue of being uttered?

http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/08/30/435277397/a-white-teen-was-killed-by-a-cop-and-no-one-took-to-the-streets-is-that-a-proble

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