[lit-ideas] Re: As Soon As Possible: The Implicature
- From: Donal McEvoy <donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2014 14:21:19 +0000 (GMT)
>One possible refutation of McEvoy's idea that 'possible' is a misnomer for
'practicable' is to find contexts where 'as soon as possible' applies to
items that are beyond human intentionality and agency.
The sun will rise as soon as possible.>
The example of a sun rising a.s.a.p is absurd-sounding and no convincing
example is given by JLS to refute my suggested equation of "possible" and
"practicable" in the original example (I did not suggest 'possible =
practicable' in any possible/practical example one might care to develop).
But the underlying premise on which JLS works is also absurd - for to find a
context where "possible" does not equate to "practicable" would not refute that
in the original example "possible" does equate to "practicable". So the search
for other contexts, where 'possible' does not mean 'practicable', is a fool's
errand - at least in terms of it being thought a search for a "refutation" of
my suggestion.
The meaning of a word like "possible" (like the meaning of most words) need not
be invariant throughout different contexts: and this means that its meaning in
one context cannot necessarily refute that it has a different specific meaning
in another context.
All this strikes me as obvious - obvious enough to think we should move on from
this barren philosophising. Perhaps a.s.a.p.?
Dnl
Ldn
On Sunday, 9 March 2014, 10:41, "Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx" <Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx> wrote:
We are considering the otiose implicatures behind the most colloquial
("Valley-style") -- and irritating to some -- uses of 'as soon as possible'.
In a message dated 3/9/2014 6:20:08 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
The term "possible" is not here the "possible" of logic [logically
possible etc], but a synonym for 'practicable'. And 'practicable' itself is a
term
that may be shorthand for a wide range of considerations.
The other aspect of this argument is no more serious than this:
A: I'll finish doing it when I can.
B: Of course. You can't finish doing it when you cannot.
Here B may be thought to have not made a wonderrfully witty remark but
rather taken "can" in a sense different to A's meaning.
McEvoy is then considering the replacement of the 'p' in the well-known
acronym, 'asap', to have the 'p' read as 'practicable'.
"as soon as praticable"
which, as he notes, is "shorthand for a wide range of considerations" --
but wonder under which of these it does NOT violate a Griceian requirement
for efficiency in conversation. "As soon as possible" I would NOT be
surprised if is listed, by those authors of manuals on "English Usage" as an
'otiosity' (as Geary calls them) or redundancy (alla 'rules and regulations'
or
'needless to say', or 'couldn't care not less').
The retort (if that's the word to McEvoy's other example):
"You cannot finish doing something when you cannot"
seems analytic in nature, not too different from Horatio Nelson's famous
(if otiose) remark: An Englishman should do his duty. Or not.
One possible refutation of McEvoy's idea that 'possible' is a misnomer for
'practicable' is to find contexts where 'as soon as possible' applies to
items that are beyond human intentionality and agency.
The sun will rise as soon as possible.
This missing plane should be found as soon as possible.
Spring should come as soon as possible.
As soon as possible is never too soon.
As soon as possible is never soon enough.
-- Another course of action (that Geary recommends) is to start using 'as
soon as impossible' just to tease what he calls his 'interlocutor'.
Or not.
Popper may have a say on the matter. Compare the use of 'a.s.a.p' in
Newton's graviational theory (refuted by Einstein, but still part of what
McEvoy
calls 'false knowledge'):
The apple should reach the ground as soon as possible (An application of F
= G M1 M2/d2. where F is the gravitational force; M1 and M2 are the masses
of two particles -- e.g. an apple and the earth --; d is their distance).
Note that we may need a subscript here: 1 and 2.
Thus a letter exchange should go:
Sir,
You should comply with this as soon as possible-1
Tom
---
Dear Jerry,
Surely. As soon as possible-2 I will.
It may be argued that Tom's and Jerry's conceptions of 'possible' (surely
not of 'soon') differ. Or not.
Cheers,
Speranza
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