Or how pirots karulise elatically: some simpler ways. In a message dated 5/26/2014 1:10:12 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx writes: Nothing in this examination contradicts my own post. Good. I also enjoyed the author's (S. O.) examination of the idea of cooperativeness: The author writes: "As West et al. (2007) note, such behaviours are sometimes termed ‘ co-operative’, but this usage is not universal." Indeed, Grice preferred 'helpfulness' in his Oxford lectures on implicature in 1964, and only later used the technical 'cooperative' idea. "Others use ‘co-operation’ to refer to behaviour that boosts the fitness of others irrespective of its effect on self." "While still others use ‘cooperation’ as a synonym for altruism." Grice didn't! He says A helps B if A honours B's goal. It's a matter of temporarily identify with your partner's goal. You co-operate. The syntax varies: A cooperates with B. Or A and B co-operate towards a common goal G (which results from A's honouring B's goal). Conversations are not zero-sum games. And G(A) INTERSECTION G(B) NEVER NULL SET The intersection of A's goal and B's goal is never null. The idea of reciprocal altruism, while Griceian in nature, may require some refinement when it comes to cross-specific cases. Grice dealt mainly with human pirots, although he talked to his cats (he named them after the places where he would find them: Sausalito, Oakland, Moraga. But with humans, reciprocity may involve a self-referential clause, where intentions play a full role: A's intention I is that B forms a belief to the effect that A holds intention I. B's intention I' is that A forms a belief to the effect that B holds intention I'. This may be more difficult to attain with non-human pirots -- however 'a' -- The author (S. O.) prefers 'selfish' versus 'altruistic', but I prefer to use 'e' and 'a', for the Greco-Roman counterparts (ego and alter). A reciprocal intention may be at the core of the 'common goal' that we require for any helpful analysis of helpfulness or cooperativeness. Cheers, Speranza REFERENCES GRICE, H. P. Logic and conversation, 1964, Oxford. On principles of candour, brevity, and clarity, aiming al helpfulness. GRICE, H. P. Logic and conversation, 1967, Harvard. On the 'cooperative principle'. GRICE, H. P. Method in philosophical psychology: from the banal to the bizarre. Repr. in Conception of Value. GRICE, H. P. Unpublications. The Grice Papers. Bancroft Library, UC/Berkeley. ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html