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Single Idea 10991

[filed under theme 19. Language / F. Communication / 5. Pragmatics / b. Implicature ]

Full Idea

Grice particularly identified two maxims as guiding conversation: the maxim of 'quality' (that one should assert only what one believes to be true and justified), and of 'quantity' (one should not assert less than one can).

Gist of Idea

Key conversational maxims are 'quality' (assert truth) and 'quantity' (leave nothing out)

Source

report of H. Paul Grice (Presupposition and Conversational Implicature [1977]) by Stephen Read - Thinking About Logic Ch.3

Book Ref

Read,Stephen: 'Thinking About Logic' [OUP 1995], p.70

A Reaction

I think it would be very foolish to boldly embrace the second maxim when talking to strangers. If white lies are occasionally acceptable, then what is the status of the first 'maxim'? Is it a moral maxim?

The 14 ideas from H. Paul Grice

14277 A person can be justified in believing a proposition, though it is unreasonable to actually say it [Grice, by Edgington]
13856 Conditionals are truth-functional, but we must take care with misleading ones [Grice, by Edgington]
8948 The odd truth table for material conditionals is explained by conversational conventions [Grice, by Fisher]
13767 Conditionals might remain truth-functional, despite inappropriate conversational remarks [Edgington on Grice]
7751 Meaning needs an intention to induce a belief, and a recognition that this is the speaker's intention [Grice]
7752 Only the utterer's primary intention is relevant to the meaning [Grice]
7753 We judge linguistic intentions rather as we judge non-linguistic intentions, so they are alike [Grice]
22330 Grice said patterns of use are often semantically irrelevant, because it is a pragmatic matter [Grice, by Glock]
18045 Grice's maxim of quality says do not assert what you believe to be false [Grice, by Magidor]
18044 Grice's maxim of manner requires one to be as brief as possible [Grice, by Magidor]
18046 Grice's maxim of quantity says be sufficiently informative [Grice, by Magidor]
10990 Conditionals are truth-functional, but unassertable in tricky cases? [Grice, by Read]
10991 Key conversational maxims are 'quality' (assert truth) and 'quantity' (leave nothing out) [Grice, by Read]
22140 The greatest philosophers are methodical; it is what makes them great [Grice]