[lit-ideas] Improper Misunderstandings
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2012 16:36:50 -0400 (EDT)
In a message dated 6/30/2012 3:57:01 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
the legal world – though here a more commonly used phrase might be “
proper understanding”, as in the “proper understanding or correct
interpretation
…” of the relevant wording.
I'll re-read the legal case. But of course, as PHILOSOPHERS use
'understand' we are in a different realm. The first was HPG in "Meaning"
(1948). He
thought, specifically, that what he had to say about 'by uttering x, U means
that p', should shed light on the idea of "... understands...". This was
taken up by Strawson in "Intention and Convention in speech acts" (1964).
With these two specimens of locus classicus, I approach the issue.
M. Dascal, U. Eco, and others, have been stressing what we may call
"over-interpretation" which a Griceian should regard as a misunderstanding.
So there are underinterpretations and overinterpretations (as when Freud
says that if X dreamed of a pipe, he didn't JUST dream of a pipe). And so on.
In the case of the 'key tenet', it seems that to _qualify_ "understanding"
by means of an adverb is what Austin calls an 'aberration' (Searle, "No
modification without aberration"). So,
"He understood me".
does just fine.
"He properly understood me" doesn't.
----
"Proper" is best reserved for the idiom, "prim and proper", such as Grice's
Aunt Matilda was. Grice uses his prim-and-proper Aunt Matilda to qualify
his theory of meaning. Grice wants to say that expression x means "C" iff
some utterer, by uttering x, means C such that C is involved in p.
"He is a runt"
is Grice's example. "Runt" can be used, and should be used, only literally.
(Similarly, Ritchie was recently saying that he was literally "on the
edges"). BUT, 'runt' can be used figuratively to mean 'undersized person'.
Grice specifically expresses that 'runt' may THUS mean for his prim-and-PROPER
Aunt Matilda. This Grice thought required a qualification for his analysis,
since his Aunt Matilda "should rather be seen dead than "uttering" "He is
a runt" -- and yet, she UNDERSTANDS what "he is a runt" means, even
figuratively.
And so on.
Cheers,
Speranza
----
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
