Indeed, or "Dick", as the correct spelling goes (It's short for Richard).
This is a real quote
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Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Grice's Eighth Wonder
We are considering Grice's
i. Every nice girl loves a sailor.
Grice's treatment of the problem involves 'metaphysical' objects that he
suspects some philosophers may be guarded about introducing. He might be
thinking Popper.
In a message dated 6/22/2015 10:04:12 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx writes:
I suppose that "Every man has a dick" would then implicate that all men share
one dick.
Indeed, or "Dick", as the correct spelling goes (It's short for Richard).
But Grice's eighth wonder has to do with multiple quantification.
"The notorious difficulties to which Grice's treatment gives rise are with the
problems of handling quantification.
To the epithet, 'sailor', it will be assigned not only sailors, but also what
Grice calls "SPECIAL objects": the altogether sailor and the one-at-a-time
sailor.
"The altogether sailor satisfies a given predicate 'sailor', just in case
every non-special item associated with the special altogether sailor satisfies
the predicate in question.
"The one-at-a-time sailor satisfies a given predicate 'sailor' just in case AT
LEAST ONE of the associated nonspecial objects associated with that special
object satisfies the predicate in question".
The altogether sailor is loved by every nice girl just in case EVERY
individual sailor is loved by every nice girl.
The one-at-a-time sailor is loved by every nice girl just in case at least one
individual sailor is loved by every nice girl.
We can take this pair of statements about special sailors ('the one-at-a-time
sailor' and 'the altogether sailr') as providing with the logical form of the
assertion that some sailor is loved by every nice girl and the statement that
every sailor is loved by every nice girl.
"This apparatus", Grice notes, "as it stands, will not be adequate to provide a
comprehensive treatment of quantification", since we need "to be able to cope
with the well-known examples arising from OTHER features of multiple
quantification".
One then sees why Grice never spent much time with (x) and (Ex) which he does
list in the opening sentence of "Logic and Conversation" as providing the
logical form for 'all' and 'some' (Never mind 'the').
Grice goes on:
We need a system that "will deliver for us distinct logical forms for the two
notorious readings of
i. Every nice girl loves a sailor.
and
ii. Every nice girl loves some sailor".
In one reading, the universal quantifier, 'every nice girl', is dominant with
respect to scope. But in the other reading, it is the existential quantifier
which is dominant".
Grice adds: "I'm not sure what reading the music-hall singer who popularised
this song was having in mind."
In the first reading, "we attribute a property to the altogether nice girl". In
the second reading, "we attribute a property to the one-at-a-time sailor".
"Exportation WILL affect truth-value when it is applied to sentences about
special objects like the altogether nice girl and the one-at-a-time sailor".
Grice is wise to considers an objection:
"Some may find these objects -- the altogether nice girl and the one-at-a-time
sailor as metaphysically disreputable" -- he may be thinking Popper.
Grice is ultimately looking for "a simple subject-predicate account of
quantification".
He then goes on to propose the account of ontological correlates in terms of
"at least a second order" set theory.
Grice goes on:
"A dozen years or so ago, I devoted a good deal of time to this proposal, and I
convinced myself that it offered a powerful instrument which was capable of
handing not only indefinitely long sequences of mixed quantificational phrases,
but also some other less obviously tractable problems."
Grice goes on: "As I envisage it, a proposition will be regarded as a family of
propositional complexes. Now, the propositional complex directly associated with
iii. A sailor is loved by every nice girl"
"will be both logically equivalent -- yet numerically distinct from the
propositional complex below."
iv. Not every sailor is not loved by every nice girl."
Grice concludes: "Indeed, for any given propositional complex there will be
indefinitely many propositional complexes, which are both logically equivalent
and also numerically distinct from the original complex."
And it may still be different with Richards. 'Dick' is literally the rhyming
nickname for "Rick", short for "Richard". The Middle English form was
"Rycharde", from Old French "Richarde". This in turn came from Old High German
"Rico-hard", which meant, literally, "strong in rule". It is from
Proto-Germanic "rik-" "ruler" (see "rich") + *harthu "hard," from PIE *kar-o-
(see "hard" (adj.)). Rick-hard was, for some reason of the most popular
names
introduced by the Normans. It was especially popular as a male name. It
was usually Latinized as "Ricardus", the common form was "Ricard", whence the
pet (or hypochoristic) form "Rick, etc." In Italy, it was used for females
too: vide Santa Ricarda, imperatrice dell'Occidente.
Cheers,
Speranza
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