Dear all,
Why do humans communicate? I've been thinking about this question recently
and, although I realise it may be a little tangential to the concerns of
some fellow-listers (to whom I apologise in advance), I was wondering if
anyone could shed any light on it for me.
Neale (1992) raises the issue of the 'purpose' of communication when
discussing Grice's (1969) revision of Clause (1) of his original 3-clause
characterisation of non-natural meaning. Grice makes a change from "U
intends... (1) A to produce some particular response r" to "U intends... (1)
A to think that U thinks that p". This leads Grice to distinguish between
utterances in which the speaker's intention is to get the hearer to think
that the speaker holds a particular belief (or some other propositional
attitude), and utterances uttered with the _further_ intention of getting
the hearer to come to hold that belief or propositional attitude (on the
strength of their thinking that the speaker holds that belief or
propositional attitude).
Neale goes on (p. 545): "One worry about the suggested revision is that it
does not comport well with the commonly held view that the primary purpose
of communication is the transfer of information about the world: on the
revised account, the primary purpose seems to be the transfer of information
about one's mental states." Neale is referring back to a point originally
made in McDowell (1980) "The primary point of making assertions is not to
instill into others beliefs about one's assertions, but to inform others ...
about the subject matter of one's assertions (which need not be, though of
course it may be, the asserter's beliefs)."
In the literature on nonhuman animal communciation, the 'function' of a
trait is looked at in terms of its effects on survival and reproduction -
basically, its consequences for the species' fitness. Starting from the
presumption that we might adopt the same strategy when we try to give an
account for human communciation (which - I realise - may not be to
everyone's taste) can anyone tell me why informing others about "the subject
matter of one's assertions" - i.e. transferring information about the
world - should be regarded as more fitness-enhancing than instilling into
others "beliefs about one's assertions" - i.e. transferring information
about one's mental states?
Hauser (1998) discusses many of the functions of the individual
communication systems of nonhuman animals, but essentially all of these boil
down to the observation that "communication provides for conveying
information _and_ for expressing to others what has been perceived" (my
emphasis). As far as I can see, Hauser gives equal weight to both conjuncts.
Johnson-Laird (1990 - quote taken from Hauser) writes: "communication is a
matter of causal influence... the communicator [must] construct an internal
representation of the external world, and then... carry out some symbolic
behaviour that conveys the content of that representation. The recipient
must first perceive the symbolic behaviour, i.e. construct its internal
representation, and then from it construct a further internal representation
of the state that it signifies". The information being transmitted in this
view is only indirectly 'about' the world. The 'primary purpose' seems to be
the transfer of mental states.
I tend toward this latter view, since in acts of communication by both human
and nonhuman animals, information 'about the world' is generally (always?)
'filtered' through cognitive states.
And Grice can't have been _wrong_, for God's sake...
Best wishes (and Happy Christmas) to all,
Tim
Refs:
Grice (1969) Utterers meaning and intentions. Philosophical Review 78.
Hauser (1996) The Evolution of Communication. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
McDowell (1980) Meaning, communication and knowledge, in Z van Staaten,
Philosophical Subjects, Oxford.
Neale (1992) Paul Grice and the philosophy of language. Linguistics and
Philosophy 15.5.
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Tim Wharton
twharton@clara.co.uk
t.wharton@ucl.ac.uk
tel. +44 (0)1273 477281
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