In a message dated 3/4/2016 2:39:45 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx writes: if there were no practical need for any
policies
that discriminated between different EU nationals, the BSC might have adopted
Lord Walker's logical-sounding approach.
I especially LOVED that implicature in Lord Walker's logical-sounding
approach (implicatural-sounding approach, too) in a couple passages (Geary
taught me to drop 'of' in "couple passages"):
ii. In my view the third issue, raising the Irish element, does not arise."
Walker is having in mind the Oxford deeming of a cat to be a dog, and a
fortiori, deeming Patmalniece an Irish woman.
But my favourite must go to what I call Walker's axiom, surely a priori,
rather than a fortiori:
i. No amount of legislation can render ♂ capable of bearing children.
In "In defense of a dogma" (the dogma of analyticity), Grice and Strawson
criticised Quine for calling the thing a dogma in the first place. Quine's
example was:
iii. A bachelor is an unmarried male.
Surely Walker is familiar with the discussion and joining Hart to the
analytic brigade:
i. No amount of legislation can render ♂ capable of bearing children.
invites so many implicatures ("Can I count the ways..."), e.g.
iv. 'legislation' is a mass noun -- hence it requires the application of
'amount'.
v. 'can' and 'capable' are modal terms to be given a semantics in possible
world terms. Walker is suggesting
vi. This ♂ is capable of bearing children.
is analytically false or a 'contradictio in terminis'.
There are uses of 'capable' where a different implicature may be invited.
It's "Homo sapiens" Walker has in mind, for ♂. It may well be that other
species -- where the ♂ category applies -- e.g. "Martians" -- (vide Coady,
"The senses of the Martians: a discussion of Grice") -- which may render (vi)
alla Kant, synthetic a priori (if not boringly synthetic a posteriori).
Etc.
Cheers,
Speranza
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