[lit-ideas] Re: Thanksgiving: An Illocutionary Approach
- From: Mike Geary <jejunejesuit.geary2@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 24 Nov 2011 00:21:15 -0600
And a very merry giving of thanks to JL for his happy comments through the
many years. I probably misinterpret his posts most of time, but I don't
care because if so, I misinterpret them to my own amusement and that's just
about all I ask of life any more.
Thankful Mike in unforgiving Memphis.
On Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 8:53 PM, <jlsperanza@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> Geary wrote:
>
> "Happy Thanksgiving -- unless, of course, you're an American Indian -- in
> which case, I apologize on behalf of European Civilization but I'm damn
> glad we won -- mighty pretty country. Sorry about them Reservations. I
> know living in dust ain't so very much fun."
>
> ----
>
> In "The Foundations of Illocutionary Logic", Searle and Vanderveken
> provide an analysis of "thank" that may apply.
>
> They distinguish between ´rhetic´ oratio-obliqua reports of "thank":
>
> ¨"He thanked her for her hospitality."
>
> From illocutionary first-person proper "thanks" giving.
>
> "I thank thee."
>
> In general, the "give", in "thanksGIVing", is regarded, by illocutionary
> logicians, as redundant ("In what ways to "give thank" replaces "thank"
> _simpliciter_").
>
> Ultimately, Searle´s and Vanderveken´s approach relies on Grice. It´s the
> _intention_ (on the part of the utterer of "I thank thee") that counts.
> Thus, a report may contradict an illocutionary use:
>
> "He thought he was thanking her, but he wasn´t -- he clearly had no
> "thanksgiving" intention to match his phatic act".
>
> ----
>
> Geary:
>
> "Happy Thanksgiving -- unless, of course, you're an American Indian"
>
> If I am right -- vide "Thanksgiving for 1621", a book published by the
> Plymouth museum -- "American Indians", as Geary calls them, WERE involved
> in this 3-day festival of harvest that Bradford and his fellows, and some
> of the native Americans they interacted with, called "thanksgiving".
>
> (Oddly, in Turkey, talking of "Indians", the turkey is not called "Turkey"
> -- or its local variant --, but "Hindi" -- vide wiki, "gallopavo
> silvestris").
>
> "Happy Thanksgiving -- unless, of course, you're an American Indian -- in
> which case, I apologize on behalf of European Civilization but I'm damn
> glad we won -- mighty pretty country. Sorry about them Reservations. I
> know living in dust ain't so very much fun."
>
> The next point is the application of "happy" to "give thank". "I happily
> thank thee". And so on.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Speranza
>
>
>
>
>
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