--- By J. L. Speranza, of the Grice Club.
------------ for the Carnap Corner
IN A POST in GriceClub.Blogspot, "Grice on adaptiveness" I quote at some length, inviting a comment by Kramer, from Gr91, i.e. Grice's Conception of Value. This book actuall comprises two sepearate pieces: the 1983 Paul Carus Lectures, and the much earlier, Gr75, i.e. "Method in philosophical pscyhology". These things should be taken into consideration when viewing the CarnapGrice interface, as it were -- if we want to check a 'development' of this or that idea.
In the quotes from Gr75 in that post then, I direct the attention to Grice's 'turn of phrase':
"in a more positivistic vein"
---
Vis a vis the very interesting things that R. B. Jones has said, and is able to say, on 'positivism' as a _creed_, I will defer commentary! But not quite!
What Grice is willing to say is that
'a change of idiom'
may be just what it takes from one bete noire (e.g. Mechanism) to its twin enemy (Finalism).
Thus, he is considering 'pirots' (which he borrows from Carnap). These are _not_ animals, for the simple reason that they don't have an anima! (Grice is sceptical of 'animism' here).
Similarly, he envisages that someone may be, rightly, sceptical of attributions of 'causa finalis', telos.
-- for specific claims about 'pirots' -- in terms of their continued operancy.
Thus, in its stead, he proposes:
survival utilty.
Grice is willing to say that
finality =df survival utility
I.e what is a turn of phrase in one bete noire ('survival utility') -- i.e. Grice when in the 'positivistic mood' -- may well get translated to a turn of phrase in its corresponding twin bete: finalism.
--- For each bete noire, then, and for the mother of them all, Minimalism, Grice seems to be suggesting a corresponding turn of phrase. This has methodological consequences in that it gives clues as to what constitutes each 'bete noire' and how to fight her!
JLS
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It's utility, and 'survival' is redundant by praxis as in “It is unreasonable to demand of linguistic theory that it provide anything more than a practical evaluation procedure for grammars.” Noam Chomsky 1957
ReplyDeletePractically everything is covered by this and whatever isn't would be a practical alternative.
What about a candidate of reference? "Time." It's recursive, sort of according to your whim; a bete noire, at least by night, and beastly over distance for most of us; mechanical, final, or somewhere wandering about in "God's Own Time." Riddles come in any format, provided that the outcome is concealed. Philosophy blogs are riddled with this.
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