Grice On Meaning; Intention and Recognition in Non-natural Sense Grice begins Meaning by explaining the differences between natural

and nonnatural senses. An example of use of an utterance given as a natural sense is explained with a sentence Those spots mean (mean) measles.(p.377) In this sentence, we cannot say Those spots meant measles but he hadnt got measles. On the other hand, a sentence such as Those three rings on the bell (of the bus) mean that bus is full(p.377) does not have the same sense as the one before. Here, the driver may have rung the bell by mistake, therefore it does not state the fact of the bus being full. Grice calls these kinds of senses non-natural. According to him, we can say that natural sense is x meant that p and x means that p entail p. For non-natural sense, it is x meant that p and x means that p do not entail p. (p.378) If A means something by x in a non-natural sense, there is an intention of the meaning and the recognition of that intention by the audience. Grice gives three examples of intentions (p.382): 1) Herod presents Salome with the head of St. John the Baptist on a charger. 2) Feeling faint, a child lets its mother how pale it is (hoping that she may draw her own conclusion and help). 3) I leave the china my daughter has broken lying around for everyone to see. In 1, the intention is to induce the belief that he is dead. There is no non-natural meaning here because however the interpretation may be, the fact that the Baptist is dead is unchangeable. In 2, the child intends to be recognized that he is not feeling well by his mother. The mother will pay attention in order only to draw her own conclusion. In 3, the exposure of the broken china is responsible to show the fact that it is broken. The china is indeed broken and cannot be undone. These are sentences that have intentions but there is no non-natural meaning. Interestingly, the first example with Herod shows further his intention of this act. Herod presents the Baptists head on a charger not only to show Salome that the Baptist is dead but also to obtain her recognition of his intention. Salome asks for the head of the Baptist meaning she wishes him to be dead, and the act of putting the head on a charger proves Herods intention to keep his promise. Grice writes, for A to mean something by x,A must intend to induce by x a belief in an audience, and he must also intend his utterance to be recognized as so intended. (p.383) If someone offers a box of chocolate to someone else, there is a sign of affection. There is a meaning in offering a box of chocolate. It could also be a spontaneous gesture or an act. In these cases, sometimes there are effects that are not necessarily intended in advance. For example, if someone frowns, it shows feeling of displeasure whether it was intentional or not. But if he deliberately frowns and excepts his audience to see his feeling, the meaning of the frowning is well used. There are cases that effect is expected but there is not necessarily a meaning. If someone discovers a certain person blushes whenever he recognized a certain grunt, does it mean anything by grunting? For example, if he obtains the effect that he wanted (which is blushing) with that certain grunting. but does this grunting mean anything? Grice says not. He states that for x to have meaningNN, the intended effect must be something which in some sense is within the control of the audience.(p.385) There is a meaning if the audience must have the choice to refuse or reject certain reactions and yet they still react that particular way as intended. So in this case, grunting does not have a meaning because the person blushes despite his will.

Also, if some people find a man in their room and they want him to be gone, what would they do? Throw a pound note out of the window? In this case, Grice says there is no utterance with meaning because it is not effective to make the man leave the room. Probably pushing him or simply pointing to the door may be more meaningful. However, although it is meaningful, the meaning here is non-natural because the man might see the sign of pointing to the door as there might be someone else and they want him to open the door. To emphasize these Grices arguments, let us reconsider the example of Herod. Herod means by Baptists head on a charger that the Baptist was dead and that Herod had intention to do so. For Salome, the head meant these things that Herod intended to show. If Herod found out that Salome had mistaken Baptist with a different person, Herod could put that persons head on a charger. But it does not mean the death of the Baptist but of someone elses. Or if Herod gave Salome a bouquet of flowers, there is no utterance with a meaning there. The head of Baptist on a charger would have a meaning if Herods intention was to show the Baptists death and that was acknowledged by Salome.

Reference: Grice, H.P. The Philosophical Review, Volume 66, Issue 3 (July, 1957), 377-388. Cornell University Stable URL: Http//links.jsor.org/sici?sici=0031-8108%28195707%2966%3A3%3C377%3AM%3E2.0CO%3B2P