[lit-ideas] Murdering Rawls -- Grice's Maximin Makes A Comeback

"He is not playing Brahms. He  is 'mudering' Brahms."


In a message dated 4/25/2009 2:12:55 A.M.  Eastern Daylight Time, 
mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx writes:
In philosophy, the term  "maximin" is often used in
the context of John Rawls's A Theory of  Justice,
where he refers to it (Rawls (1971, p. 152)) 

----

I  have also seen 'maximin' in connection with Grice. And then, Rawls does 
cite  Grice ('Personal Identity') in one of his longer essays.

The Grice  reference is clearest in Asha Kasher, "Conversational strategies 
 revisited".

Kasher, of Tel-Aviv, had a student who studied with Grice in  UC/Berkeley. 
Notably, he uses 'maximin' to apply to the _balance_ (alla Rawls)  between 
easier things than justice and fairness -- but quantity of  information.

Suppose we define torture as interrogation via violent  methods for the 
purpose of extracting information (as all interrogation is, that  purpose). 
"Interrogation" is the keyword ('interrogation technique' being  dysphemism or 
euphemism for 'torture' such as waterboarding -- it's the bigger  category).

For Grice there is a balance:

The torturee said too  much (as I would under _any_ circumstance -- "Geary 
told me that, and he lives  on 45 Elm Street, and he also forced me to do 
what I did. But he does not mean  harm. I'm just an argy. Will you let me go 
now. My mother is ill, and so is my  cat. And I miss Argieland. And Geary, 
John Michael, said that I should do these  horrible things, but it was never 
my intention. It was him. He meant well, but  he does love an utopia").

The torturee died before being interrogated.  This happened to a friend of 
my cousin. She was 89, and before she understood  the _question_ and the 
first drops of water flowed in her throat, she passed  peacefully.

The torturee said too little. This happened to my uncle. He  was captured 
by the Native Americans. They wanted information as to "where he  hid the 
gold". He did mention the attic, but 'forgot' to especify there was  some, too, 
in the cellar, which we still use. Uncle Silas.

The torturee  said neither too much nor too little. He provided all the 
information the  torturers were expecting. She complied both with x-questions 
and yes/no  questions. The x questions he provided telephone numbers. The 
yes/no questions  were usually answered 'yes'. In one case, she answered 'no', 
but appended,  "sorry you thought otherwise". The torturers were pleased.

Only in the  latter scenario is maximin in play.

Cheers,

JL  

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