RT list: Open texture

R. Carston mentions on the 'conclusion' section of her 2009 essay -- 'open
texture' as per Waissman.

I was reminded of a good reference here,

Baker, G. 'Defeasibility and Meaning', in the H. L. A. Hart festschrift.

--- for surely 'defeasible' as used by Hart was at the _heart_ of the
Waismann/Grice idea of 'open textured' predicates.

----
The OED gives seven quotes for 'open texture' --  some relentlessly 
literal, so beware (the  jabberwock):
under
cellular, adj. and n.   f a fabric:  of open texture; knitted so as to form 
holes 
open texture,  n.   open texture
*****************
phenomenalist, n. and  adj.   due to .. the 'open texture' of most of our 
empirical  con
*****************
rare, adj.1 (and int.), adv.1, and  n.   sparsely, with open texture, 
rarely, seldom ( rarus +  -e,
sleazy, sleezy, a.   , of loose and open texture, easily  torn, and soon 
worn o
solute, ppl. a.   1. Of loose open  texture or composition. Obs.
waled, a.   led, having an open  texture.
--- the first quote is delightful, coming from a delight of a  man (so 
different from what Grice calls the "Vienna Circle rednecks" in "Actions  and 
Events", PPQ, 1988). 
1945 F. WAISMANN in Aristotelian Soc. Suppl.  Vol. 19 121 
 
The failure of the phenomenalist to translate a material object statement  
into terms of sense data..is due to..the ‘open texture’ of most of our 
empirical  concepts... I owe this term to Mr. [W. C.] Kneale who suggested it to 
me as a  translation of Porosität der Begriffe, a term coined by me in 
German. 
 
-----
 
Indeed, Grice quotes extensively from William Calvert (God bless him) in  
"Reply to Richards". 
 
The OED provides, in a typical open-texture frame, only two further quotes  
for this conceptual porosity (what _was_ Kneale thinking?):
 
1965 Amer. Philos. Q. 2 112/2 
 
There are practical reasons independent of vagueness, open-texture and the  
like for refusing to equate names with descriptions. 
 
1992 J. M. KELLY Short Hist. Western Legal Theory x. 431 
 
All rules have an ‘open texture’ (though the degree of openness will  
vary..; for example, peculiarly important social ends like protecting life may  
mean laws against killing which have very little area of open texture).
 
--- and a few more under 'open-textured':
 
1948 Jrnl. Philos. 45 239 
 
The proposition is certain because it is vague, unspecific, open-textured. 
 
1965 Amer. Philos. Q. 2 120/1 
 
The concepts they express are open-textured. 
 
1966 Jrnl. Linguistics 2 243 The ordinary language philosopher..emphasizing 
 the intricacy, variety and ‘open-texturedness’ of language. 
 
1974 T. E. WILKERSON Minds, Brains & People 7 
 
A concept is too open-textured, so we tighten it up a little. 
 
1985 Philos. Q. 35 143 Wittgenstein..sought to draw our attention to the  
flexibility, indeterminacy and open-texturedness of meaning. 
 
1998 D. HOWARTH in E. Scarbrough & E. Tannenbaum Res. Strategies in  Social 
Sci xii. 274 Laclau and Mouffe's social ontology is predicated on the  
radically open texturedness of any discourse.
2001 Amer. Jrnl. Internat. Law 95 789 
 
One can still form eligible interpretations of traditional and modern  
custom by considering the open-textured nature of practice.
--- Now of course Waissman never _coined_ anything; he just _composed_  
(compositional semantics). Ditto, Kneale only re-analysed!
1862 D. PAGE Adv. Text-bk. Geol. vii. 126 Before the improved manufacture  
of fire-bricks, some open-textured varieties [of greenstone]..were largely 
used  for the linings and soles of ovens. 
--- I'm not sure I can *explicate* 'open-texture' (cfr. Carston on using a  
fire extinguisher). But it does remind me of T. Williamson and his 
'vagueness'  indeed. And it's no wonder that G. P. Baker, the (late-i) American 
philosopher  who succeeded H. P. Grice as 'tutorial fellow in philosophy' at St. 
John's, has  written extensively on 
         i. Hart -- for the  festschrift.
       ii.  Grice -- for the  festschrift, PGRICE, ed. Grandy/Warner, 
"Alternative Mind-Styles"
_and_
      iii. Witters ("Some like Witters; but  Moore's my man").
 
(Call me a relentless literalists -- as all Oxonian types, too, are -- if  
you see I cannot but quote the literal quotes for this 'open-textured'  
"open-texture":
 
1915 C. SCHUCHERT Text-bk. Geol. II. xxvii. 713 
 
The oil and gas are stored in coarse, open-textured sandstones and  
conglomerates. 
 
1931 G. A. GARRATT Mech. Properties Wood II. 115 
 
That [wood] originally nearest the pith..is generally more open textured  
and of lighter colour. 
 
1995 R. GRAY & R. ROGERS River Cafe Cook Bk. (1996) i.34 It's important  to 
use open-textured white bread made with olive oil.)
S. Chapman has argued -- very conclusively -- that H. P. Grice (the  
philosopher and linguist) was at heart an intentionalist. Like Waissman, and  
Berlin, and the early exponents of Oxonian linguistic philosophy, he was into,  
and against the 'red-necks' of the Vienna Circle (sorry, Grice's term!) 
into,  er, not plain inductive or deductive Manichean notions, but, er, ... how 
should  I put it, _ceteris paribus_ open texture, rather.
 
Cheers,
 
J. L. Speranza
    The Grice Club, etc. 
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