[lit-ideas] Santa Claus: The Implicatures
- From: "" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "jlsperanza" for DMARC)
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 10 Dec 2016 18:10:07 -0500
McEvoy was referring to a lyric by Sinfield (set to music by Palmer), which he
(McEvoy, not Sinfield or Palmer) finds:
"very unusual in that it seems to imply that Santa [Claus] doesn't really
exist. I'd been listening several times to it [recently] and am still unsure
I've quite grasped its intended meaning."
Let's consider the thing as a Griceian utterance:
i. They said there'll be snow at Christmas
They said there'll be peace on Earth
But instead it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the Virgin birth
I remember one Christmas morning
A winters light and a distant choir
And the peal of a bell and that Christmas Tree smell
And their eyes full of tinsel and fire
They sold me a dream of Christmas
They sold me a Silent Night
And they told me a fairy story
'Till I believed in the Israelite
And I believed in Father Christmas
And I looked TO the sky with excited eyes
'Till I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn
And I saw him and through his disguise
I wish you a hopeful Christmas
I wish you a brave New Year
All anguish pain and sadness
Leave your heart and let your road be clear
They said there'll be snow at Christmas
They said there'll be peace on Earth
Hallelujah Noel be it Heaven or Hell
The Christmas we get we deserve.
There's Sinfield:
ii. I believed in Santa Claus. (Or "Father Christmas," as Sinfield prefers).
The use of the past tense usually IMPLICATES that the fact no longer holds:
iii. I used to live in Hawaii; in fact I still do.
The cancellation ("In fact, I still do") shows that "I used to live in Hawaii"
is not inconsistent with the utterer still living in Hawaii. Such is the marvel
of implicature.
On top, for Grice, 'see' is FACTIVE ("I saw a cow, but there was no cow there
to be seen," is a trope -- his example, "Julius Caesar saw Banquo"). So, when
Sinfield writes that he BELIEVED (and in fact, still believes, as the
implicature story goes) in Father Christmas UNTILL (Lake prefers "'till") "I
saw him". This seems to CONFIRM that Father Christmas (of Santa Claus as McEvoy
prefers) 'exists' (if not "really exists," as McEvoy has it). Unless Sinfield
is echoing Julius Caesar seeing Banquo.
On Dec 10, 2016, at 4:22 AM, Donal McEvoy (Redacted sender "donalmcevoyuk"
for DMARC) <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
very unusual in that it seems to imply that Santa doesn't really exist. I'd
been listening several times to it [recently] and am still unsure I've quite
grasped its intended meaning.
In 'Vacuous Names,' Grice uses
iv. Pegasus flies.
It would be *unusual* for a Graeco-Roman to utter (i) *without* the attending
entailment,
v. Pegasus exists.
It's different, Grice notes, with negatives, where (ii) becomes a
conversational, and thus cancellable, implicature:
vi. Pegasus doesn't fly; in fact, Pegasus doesn't exist.
Mutatis mutandis
vii. Santa Claus lives on the North Pole.
viii. Santa Claus does not live on the North Pole; in fact, Santa Claus does
not really exist.
McEvoy:
very unusual in that it seems to imply that Santa doesn't really exist. I'd
been listening several times to it [recently] and am still unsure I've quite
grasped its intended meaning.
"very unusual in that it [the song, or better the utterer] seems to imply [or
implicate] that Santa does not really exist."
Austin ("with typical sexism," Grice the wise writes) called 'really' the
trouser-word: "Is that a real duck?" (J. Austin, "Sense and Sensibilia"). "In
general, the use of 'really' is really otiose.")
"am still unsure I've quite grasped [Lake's] [implicature].
Well, the song is "I believe in Father Christmas", which is obviously
Sinfield's reference to Dodgson:
ix.
"The name of the song is called 'Haddocks' Eyes.'"
"Oh,that's the name of the song, is it?" Alice said, trying to feel
interested.
"No, you don't understand," the Knight said, looking a little vexed. "That's
what the name is called. The name really is 'The Aged Aged Man.'"
"Then I ought to have said 'That's what the song is called'?" Alice
corrected herself.
"No, you oughtn't: that's quite another thing! The song is called 'Ways And
Means': but that's only what it's called, you know!"
"Well, what is the song, then?" said Alice, who was by this time completely
bewildered.
"I was coming to that," the Knight said. "The song really is 'A-sitting On A
Gate', and the tune's my own invention."
Mutatis mutandis, "I believe in Father Christmas" is NOT part of the song,
just its title (that's why famous painters have lots of paintings entitled,
"Untitled," because they are implicating a title WOULD narrow the thing.)
x. I believe in Father Christmas.
is not really a proposition along the ones in (i), because it does not feature
IN THE LYRICS OF THE LONG. In fact, the past tense of 'believe' occurs in the
TEXT or lyric to the song (as Dylan explains in his speech to the Academy),
with the attending implicature ("I believed in Father Christmas," +> I no
longer do. -- and cfr. "I believed in Father Christmas, and I still do."). It
might be argued that KNOWING that the preface to (i) is (x), I believe in
Father Christmas, it is obvious that the use of the past tense ("believed")
CANCELS the implicature of the preferred reading ("I no longer do" -- cfr. "I
liked strawberries" -- where "I liked strawberries" features in a song whose
name is deemed to be "I like strawberries").
And so on.
Part of Grice's problem is that existence is not a predicate, so Santa Claus
really exists or fails to really exist (if you excuse me the split infinitive)
is a problem that Cant cant resolve (for Cant, existence is not a predicate).
Note that Sinfield prefers the implicature of "Father Christmas". "I believe
in Saint Nicholas" triggers different ones (implicatures, that is).
Saint Nicholas (Greek: Ἅγιος Νικόλαος, Hágios Nikólaos, Latin: Sanctus
Nicolaus); (15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also called Nikolaos of Myra, was a
historic 4th-century Christian saint and Greek Bishop of Myra, in Asia Minor
(modern-day Demre, Turkey).
Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known
as Nikolaos the Wonderworker (Νικόλαος ὁ Θαυματουργός, Nikólaos ho
Thaumaturgós).
His reputation evolved among the faithful, as was common for early Christian
saints, and his legendary habit of secret gift-giving gave rise to the
traditional model of Santa Claus through Sinterklaas.
And so on.
Cheers,
Speranza
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