[lit-ideas] Grice on Implicature Reinforcement

  • From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2013 17:57:03 -0400 (EDT)

Reinforcement occurs in operant or instrumental conditioning and is  
defined as a strengthening of a specific behaviour due to its association with 
a  
stimulus. A reinforcer is the stimulus that strengthens the behaviour. This 
is  in contrast to punishment where a behaviour is weakened.

In a message  dated 4/27/2013 8:33:12 A.M. UTC-02, 
donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
I am  both saying it and implying it.>

Hm. This "both" may be untrue as a  matter of the synthetic a priori...
 
Glad you noted it. I would think it's actually analytically oxymoronic (or  
not, of course). Grice's first example of the 'conversational implicature'  
is:
 
A: I've run out of gas.
B: There's a garage around the corner.
 
Grice explains: 
 
"B would be infringing [the rational constraints on conversation] unless he 
 thinks, or thinks it possible, that the garage is OPEN, and indeed, on top 
of  that, that, as a good open garage, it has some gas to sell. So, in my 
favoured  terminology, I would be ready to allow the connection by saying 
that B is  _implicating_ that the garage is,or at least MAY be open, and with 
some gas to  sell."
 
On the other hand (usually not the right one), O. K, in another scenario  
suggests:
 
"I am both saying and implying [that p]."
 
Indeed, it is almost impossible to conceive of a realistic scenario for  
this. For, if we allow the IMPLICATED material to get explicated, alla:
 
"There is a[n +> open] garage [+> with gas to sell] around the  corner"
 
he would be EXPLICATING the stuff, not IMPLICATING it.
 
In other words, implicature cannot get reinfornced _as easily_ as that. 
 
The only way to reinforce an implicature is with a further implicature.  
This Felton refers to as a meta-implicature (of sorts).

Cheers,
 
Speranza
 
---
 
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