Paul Grice
British philosopher of language who founded implicature theory.
P. Grice, H. Paul Grice, or Paul Grice, was a British philosopher of language. He created the theory of implicature and the cooperative principle (with its namesake Gricean maxims), which became foundational concepts in the linguistic field of pragmatics. His work on meaning has also influenced the philosophical study of semantics.
- field
- Philosophy of language
- nationality
- British
- known_for
- Theory of implicature, cooperative principle, Gricean maxims, intention-based se
Lore & Background
Among his pupils was P.F. Strawson, who he would later collaborate with. He distinguished between what a speaker 'says' and what the speaker thereby 'implicates', and further divided implicature into conventional and conversational types.
Reader's Guide
Grice's work fundamentally reshaped the study of language and communication. His theory of implicature provided a systematic way to analyze how speakers can convey more than the literal meaning of their words, relying on the cooperative principle and Gricean maxims. This became a cornerstone of pragmatics, influencing linguistics, philosophy, and cognitive science. The saying/implicating distinction remains central to speech act theory and the philosophy of language, though Grice never fully elucidated his favored notion of 'saying', leaving it a point of ongoing controversy. His legacy endures through the continued application and critique of his ideas in pragmatics, semantics, and the study of human communication.
Did You Know?
- Grice served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Paul Grice?
Herbert Paul Grice (1913–1988) was a British philosopher of language who became one of the most influential figures in the study of how speakers communicate more than their literal words convey. He is best known for founding the theory of conversational implicature and formulating the cooperative principle that governs everyday dialogue.
What is the cooperative principle in Grice's work?
The cooperative principle is Grice's claim that conversation partners generally assume one another are contributing relevantly and cooperatively to the exchange. This shared assumption underpins his four maxims—quantity, quality, relation, and manner—that describe how speakers normally structure their utterances.
What are Gricean maxims?
Gricean maxims are the four default expectations—be informative, be truthful, be relevant, be clear—that Grice said speakers hold of one another in ordinary talk. When a speaker appears to flout one of these maxims, the listener infers an additional, unspoken meaning, which Grice called an implicature.
What is conversational implicature?
Conversational implicature is the extra meaning a listener derives when a speaker goes beyond, or seemingly violates, the literal content of an utterance, guided by the cooperative principle. Grice argued this mechanism lets people communicate far more than the words alone encode, making it a cornerstone of modern pragmatics.
Why is Paul Grice considered important in philosophy and linguistics?
Grice's account of how meaning is generated in context became a foundational pillar of the discipline of pragmatics and reshaped how philosophers analyze the link between words and speaker intention. His influence extends well beyond philosophy of language into cognitive science, artificial intelligence, and everyday theories of communication.
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