Forrest Jackson
Dave Beisecker
PHIL 425
28 September 2011
Notes on Grice: “Meaning”
 What is it to say that an utterance means something?
o An utterance as opposed to a word or expression
o Utterance
 Done at a particular time by a particular person
 Can mean something different depending on its context (when, where,
how it is said, etc.)
 Utterance meaning needs to be distinguished from “natural” meaning
o Example
 Spots “mean” measles.
 Clouds “mean” rain.
 Smoke “means” fire.
 These are examples of natural meaning; their meaning comes from
empirical evidence in the world.
 However, when someone tells you “it is sunny outside,” they are
attempting to instill a belief within you, not just inform you about
what is. This is “non-natural” meaning.
 Non-natural/utterance/speaker meaning is artificial; product of distinctly human action
o Involves intention
o Perhaps to understand utterance meaning, we need to invoke speakers’ intentions
o Unlike natural meaning, utterance meaning can be directed at nonexistent things
and be fraught with error
 Breakdown of utterance meaning
o First, the speaker has a thought.
o Second, the speaker makes an utterance.
o Third, and lastly, the audience hears the utterance and forms a thought
corresponding to the speaker’s initial thought.
 This account is insufficient (see example below)
o Murder example
 Beisecker kills Mr. X.
 Forrest is the detective investigating the case.
 Beisecker leaves Erika’s water bottle at the scene of the crime for Forrest
to discover, effectively communicating to him that Erika is the killer.
 It would seem that Beisecker’s action would have non-natural meaning
under the “breakdown of utterance meaning” above.
 However, his placing of the bottle is different from simply leaving a note
at the scene reading “Erika did it. –Beisecker.”
 The note shows intentionality from Beisecker that Forrest would pick up
on. The placing of the bottle simply informs Forrest of a natural situation.
 Therefore, intentionality must be involved in utterance meaning.
o Affair example
 Mr. Y is having an affair with Mr. X’s wife and is discovered in a
“compromising position” with her.
 Beisecker draws a picture of what he saw and shows Mr. X. The drawing
of the picture contains intentionality on Beisecker’s part and is thus an
example of non-natural/utterance meaning.
 If Beisecker took a photograph of Mr. Y and Mrs. X and then showed it to
Mr. X, there would be no intentionality involved; it would simply be the
presentation of a fact for Mr. X to discover (natural meaning).
o Therefore, a speaker must intend for his performance or utterance to produce an
appropriate mental state in his audience (be sensitive to the audience’s states of
mind).
 In order to have utterance meaning, the speaker’s performance/utterance/action must be
intended to produce in the audience a certain mental state; the audience must recognize
the performer’s intention and how it is operative upon their mental states.
 A worry concerning the theory of Grice
o This notion of speaker meaning seems to ignore aspects of regular linguistic
convention.
 For example, when Beisecker talks, he doesn’t necessarily care about the
mental states of his audience at the precise moment he is talking.
 The point of Grice
o Grice focuses on speech acts themselves. A speech act is one that is the product of
a baroque, complex intention to bring about a certain effect in an audience by
means of the audience recognizing that intended effect.