H. P. Grice
We often mean more than we say, and listeners work it out because they assume we are trying to be cooperative, truthful, relevant and clear.
Placement
Oxford, later Berkeley philosopher of language: what a speaker means can go beyond what the words say – conversational implicature, governed by a cooperative principle and its maxims.
Key ideas
- Speaker meaning as intention
- Conversational implicature
- Cooperative principle and maxims
Students: P. F. Strawson
Influence
Influenced by 1
J. L. Austin
influenced by
Grice, one of Austin’s ‘Saturday mornings’ group, kept its close attention to ordinary usage but distinguished what is said from what is implicated (William James Lectures, 1967). H. P. Grice, “Logic and Conversation” (William James Lectures 1967; publ. 1975); Studies in the Way of Words (1989), “Prolegomena”; SEP “Paul Grice”
Evidence: AI draft
J. L. Austin › 1911–1960
Influenced 2
P. F. Strawson taught
taught
Grice was one of Strawson’s two philosophy tutors, with J. D. Mabbott, when Strawson read PPE at St John’s College, Oxford (1937–40); they later wrote ‘In Defense of a Dogma’ (1956) together. SEP “Peter Frederick Strawson”; P. F. Strawson, “Intellectual Autobiography”, in L. E. Hahn (ed.), The Philosophy of P. F. Strawson (1998)
Evidence: AI draft
P. F. Strawson › 1919–2006
John Searle
influenced
Searle adopted Grice’s analysis of meaning through the intended recognition of intentions but held that it must include linguistic conventions (Speech Acts, 1969). J. R. Searle, Speech Acts (1969); H. P. Grice, “Meaning”, Philosophical Review 66 (1957); SEP “Paul Grice”
Evidence: AI draft
John Searle › 1932–2025
Criticism
Criticizes 1
W. V. O. Quine
criticised
With Strawson, Grice defended the analytic–synthetic distinction against Quine: its ordinary use is shared and teachable, so its intelligibility cannot be denied (‘In Defense of a Dogma’, 1956). H. P. Grice & P. F. Strawson, “In Defense of a Dogma”, Philosophical Review 65 (1956), 141–158
Evidence: AI draft
W. V. O. Quine › 1908–2000
Works
- 1957Meaning
To mean something by an utterance is to intend that the hearer respond in a certain way because they recognise this intention.
William James Lectures of 1967: conversational implicatures follow from a cooperative principle and the maxims of quantity, quality, relation and manner.
Position
Grice gave philosophy of language two ideas that are now standard in linguistics. The first concerns meaning. In “Meaning” (1957) he analysed what a speaker means by an utterance in terms of intentions: to mean something is to intend to produce an effect in a hearer by means of the hearer’s recognising that intention. The second is conversational implicature. If a reference for a philosophy student says only that his English is excellent and he attended regularly, the writer conveys that he is no good at philosophy without saying so. Grice explained such effects by a cooperative principle – make your contribution such as is required by the purpose of the conversation – and four groups of maxims: Quantity, Quality, Relation and Manner. Implicatures can be cancelled, which distinguishes them from what is said. This allowed him to argue, against some ordinary language philosophers and against Strawson’s Introduction to Logical Theory, that words like “and” or “or” may keep their logical meaning while their use carries further suggestions. With Strawson he defended the analytic–synthetic distinction against Quine (“In Defense of a Dogma”, 1956). Searle built on and modified his account of meaning.
Life & context
Herbert Paul Grice was born in 1913 in Harborne, Birmingham, and educated at Clifton College and Corpus Christi College, Oxford. From 1938 he taught at St John’s College, Oxford, where P. F. Strawson was among his pupils; during the Second World War he served in the Royal Navy. Back in Oxford he belonged to the circle of philosophers who analysed ordinary language. His paper “Meaning”, written in 1948, appeared in 1957 in The Philosophical Review, reportedly after Strawson had submitted it. In 1967 he gave the William James Lectures at Harvard and moved to the University of California at Berkeley, where he taught until his death in 1988. His collected papers, Studies in the Way of Words, appeared in 1989; his John Locke Lectures of 1979 were published as Aspects of Reason in 2001.
Further main works
- In Defense of a Dogma (with P. F. Strawson, 1956)
- The Causal Theory of Perception (1961)
- Studies in the Way of Words (1989)
- Aspects of Reason (2001)
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