DeTrayce
Sawyers
Section
10
2nd
Installment
Language
and Philosophy
Language is one of the most important things. It
allows us to communicate with one another, which is obviously necessary for us.
More importantly we must understand the language that is trying to be communicated,
so that we can have an efficient conversation. Before this class, I never really
thought about how important language is. It’s one of those things that is so
simple we kind of overlook it. How can we effectively communicate if our
language was taken away? Would there be more misunderstandings?
Paul Grice, a twentieth century philosopher, wanted to
know how we can understand what people are trying to stay and not just what is
said. He came up with a theory known as conversational implicature. Basically,
what is said is the words the speaker says, but the meaning behind that can be
completely different. Grice also thought to have a conversation a few things
were necessary. You need to be trying to communicate with someone and have a
successful conversation. If something is being said you should listen to the
context in which it is being said.
Grice also thought that understanding does not always
fall on the person being spoken to. He laid out four rules or communicative
principles to follow. The four rules are quality, quantity, relation, and
manner. Quantity says that you should be informative, but you should not share
more than what is necessary. Quality says that we should not make false
statements or tell lies. Also, do not make claims if there is no evidence to back
up those claims. Relation, the next rule, tells us to say things that are relevant
to the conversation. Manner has four sub rules which are to avoid obscure
phrases, keep the audience in mind when using certain slang, be brief, and be
orderly. Grice points out that violation of these rules can hinder a successful
communication.
Since we all want to be understood we typically unknowingly
follow these rules daily. Before you have another conversation, I want you to
think about the rules Grice set. Once you end the conversation I want you to
reflect to see if any of the rules were broken. Did you over share? Did you
make false statements or statements that had no evidence to prove them? These
are all rules that are easy to break, so maybe being informed will help you. I
want to finish by saying this class has being interesting to say the least. It
has challenged me to think more critically about answers to questions or
solutions to problems.
The Hyperlink
below will lead to a YouTube video that can further explain Paul Grice’s rules
for communication.
My First Installment
I agree with that words can mean completely different things under different contexts. You truly have to understand the person to understand exactly what they mean with their words. I will definitely try to conciously remember these rules during my next conversation!
ReplyDeleteI agree with that words can mean completely different things under different contexts. You truly have to understand the person to understand exactly what they mean with their words. I will definitely try to conciously remember these rules during my next conversation!
ReplyDelete