Tricks of language

Implication and rationality in Paul Grice

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-6746.2022.1.38295

Keywords:

Paul Grice, Conversation, Implication, Rationality

Abstract

The implicature theory constitutes Paul Grice’s main legacy to modern studies of linguistic pragmatics. Although associated with the philosophy of ordinary language, his thinking is not marked by an aversion to theoretical systematisation which, it is said, characterised this philosophical current. On the contrary, the work of the English philosopher, although dispersed in articles only posthumously gathered in a book, constitutes a coherent and rigorous effort to analyse the principles that explain man’s rational behaviour. This essay is an attempt to interpret the analysis he proposed for the phenomenon of implicature and seeks to integrate this analysis, progressively, into the more general framework of his philosophy of language and his philosophical psychology. In passing, an approximation is suggested between Grice’s philosophical programme and a certain critical essay by the Argentine poet Jorge Luis Borges, a perhaps surprising suggestion, but one that can prove instructive.

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Author Biographies

Karl Heinz Efken, Universidade Católica de Pernambuco (Unicap), Recife, PE, Brasil.

Doutor em Filosofia pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), em Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. Professor e pesquisador no curso de Filosofia e nos Programas de Pós Graduação em Filosofia e em Ciências da Linguagem da Universidade Católica de Pernambuco (Unicap), em Recife, PE, Brasil.

Fanuel Melo Paes Barreto, Universidade Católica de Pernambuco (Unicap), Recife, PE, Brasil.

Mestre em Letras pela Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFP), em Recife, PE, Brasil. Professor Assistente I da Universidade Católica de Pernambuco. Doutorando em Ciências da Linguagem pela Universidade Católica de Pernambuco (Unicap), em Recife, PE, Brasil.

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Published

2022-02-04

How to Cite

Efken, K. H., & Barreto, F. M. P. (2022). Tricks of language: Implication and rationality in Paul Grice. Veritas (Porto Alegre), 67(1), e38295. https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-6746.2022.1.38295

Issue

Vol. 67 No. 1 (2022): Single Volume

Section

Epistemology & Philosophy of Language

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