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Full Idea
The cardinal principle of pragmatics is that the right way to take what is said, if at all possible, is the way that makes sense of the message.
Gist of Idea
Basic to pragmatics is taking a message in a way that makes sense of it
Source
David Lewis (Many, but almost one [1993], 'A better solution')
Book Ref
Lewis,David: 'Papers in Metaphysics and Epistemology' [CUP 1999], p.174
A Reaction
Thus when someone misuses a word, suggesting nonsense, we gloss over it, often without even mentioning it, because the underlying sense is obvious. A good argument for the existence of propositions. Lewis doesn't mention truth.
15539 | Basic to pragmatics is taking a message in a way that makes sense of it [Lewis] |
15537 | If cats are vague, we deny that the many cats are one, or deny that the one cat is many [Lewis] |
15536 | We have one cloud, but many possible boundaries and aggregates for it [Lewis] |
15538 | Semantic indecision explains vagueness (if we have precisifications to be undecided about) [Lewis] |