RT list: Re: Grice, H. P. -- cited by White, H. D.

Oops. Sorry, list -- but I think the typo is important and hopefully
will import a conceptual matter:

I wrote of White´s essay, "New tests for RT from IS" and wondered in
the last paragraph, if it should not rather be construed, I meant, as
"New tests for IS from RT"!

It seems to me that there are indeed three goals under consideration:

-- Grice´s, and indeed, the philosopher´s
   goal in bringing in issues of meaning
   and implicature.

-- the science of linguistics, or anthropology,
   as modelling, empirically, on this or other
   phenomena. Surely we don´t expect
   Socrates, Plato, or Aristotle -- the authors
   most revered by Grice -- to be aiming at
   this!

-- the theoretical librarian´s (H. D. White´s?)
   goal of providing the perfect "cross between
   a highly responsive press secretary and
   a super-knowledgeable librarian"

Hence the point about what is test for what, and why, I hope. Cheers,
JLS.
Received on Sat Jan 16 22:08:16 2010