[lit-ideas] Grice's Tie

Well, since this has taken some of my time in copying from a googlebook,  
here's my last today, I hope.

"Suppose that two people are considering  the purchase
of a tie which both of them KNOW to be medium  green."

"They look at it in different lights." "And say such things  as"

(NOUM 1) -- It is a LIGHT green  now

or

(NOUM 2) -- It has a touch of BLUE in it in this  light

Strictly, it would be (more) correct for them to  say

(PHAIN 1) -- It _seems_ a light GREEN  now.

(PHAIN 2) -- It _seems_ to have a touch of BLUE  in it in this light.

--- [cfr. McGinn, Secondary Qualities and Indexical  Thoughts -- JLS -- for 
the relevance of _this_ and _that_ light].

Grice's  caveat: DISIMPLICATURE at sight:

"It seems OTIOSE to add such  qualificatory words 
(when) there is no question of a real  change of colour"

Grice is more precise here:

"iff both know (and know that the other knows) that."


A lot of the  bibliography in the mit-page refers to Locke and the causal 
theory of perception  (e.g. Jackson) so I should revise that, on a longer 
day. (I like the mit-biblio  because it is very specific as to journal articles 
and most of my favourite  philosophers, e.g. Hacker, successor of Grice at 
St. John's, are listed  there).

Grice's example may seem prosaic, but so is Hume when Prichard -- in the  
wiki essay -- notes that the mind is possibly more enterprising than Hume  
allows. Still, the case of colour in connection with seem/is implicature seems 
 interesting per se. Also: why are colour words used mainly adjectivally? 
etc.  This and other questions revising the mit-biblio).

Cheers,

J. L. Speranza
Buenos Aires,  Argentina
 
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