There was an essay (I write essays most things newspapers publish -- sometimes
even a cartoon strip) in Saturday's NYT that reminded me of McEvoy -- or me.
There was this writer who is writing a letter on bars -- I forget the exact
title of the thing -- but at one point, he mentions "a degree in Frank
Sinatra". Let me see if I find the paragraph.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/08/t-magazine/food/love-letter-bars.html?_r=0
"Going out isn’t automatically more romantic than staying in, but sometimes,
even once a year, you should go to a wonderful bar and stay there until they
throw you out. Blow the rent money on two perfect martinis side by side, or fly
to that little bar in Tangier, where it’s always quarter to 3 and the barman
has a degree in Frank Sinatra."
This is a two-sentence paragraph, but it should do. The first one I'm not THAT
concerned with. The second sentence, which starts with "Blow the rent money"
features the interesting phrase:
i. The barman has a degree in Frank Sinatra.
This reminds me of
ii. A degree in Grice.
Or if we think of McEvoy,
iii. A degree in Popper.
McEvoy might object that while a degree "in Frank Sinatra" is fascinating and
the phrase "full of humour," a degree in Grice is boring -- since perhaps
someone who wrote a doctoral dissertation on Grice MIGHT be referred, loosely,
as having "a degree in Paul Grice." Ditto, Popper (By Ditto, I mean, similarly,
someone who wrote a doctoral dissertation on _Popper_ might be deemed to have
"a degree in Karl Popper."
But the humour, McEvoy might object, is lost, because Grice, Popper, and
Sinatra, don't compare, and a barman having "a degree in Frank Sinatra" does
not seem to ENTAIL (or even, more weakly, IMPLICATE) that the barman has an
actual degree ("It's figurative; hence the humour"). Still, why is it that
while you can have a degree, say, in philosophy (as Grice and Strawson and
Popper did) one cannot LITERALLY (so far) have a degree in Sinatra, Grice, or
Popper. Ritchie once mentioned "Studies Studies," so perhaps if we turn "Frank
Sinatra" into "Frank Sinatra Studies," the barman may be deemed to have a
'degree in Frank Sinatra Studies' -- or not, of course.
While the title runs, "a degree in Paul Grice" to echo "a degree in Frank
Sinatra," it should be pointed out that FOR YEARS (and unless you were GILBERT
RYLE) it was public school (English style) and Oxonian practice, to avoid your
full name and go by 'initials'. So, the degree should strictly be in "H. P.
Grice". When Grice went to America, he dropped the "H", that he had inherited
from his father ("Herbert Grice") and kept sticking with the way everybody --
outside, say, the editorial boards of "Mind", or "Synthese" -- seemed to refer
to him, by his second name, "Paul".
Something similar happened with G. R. Grice, a professor at UEA/Norwich, where
"G. R." stands for "Geoffrey Russell". G. R. Grice was sometimes referred to as
"Geoffrey Grice", sometimes as "Russell Grice", and sometimes, not referred at
all -- which was a shame.
Note that, strictly, The Estate is "The Estate of Herbert Paul Grice," not "The
Estate of Paul Grice." -- or not, i.e. or do not note that, of course!
Cheers,
Speranza
