Studies in the Way of Words (Paperback)

~ Paul Grice (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This book comprises a revised version of the late author's 1967 William James Lectures, published for the first time; reprints of 12 papers, some slightly revised; and a 1987 retrospective commentary on three aspects of the papers. The lectures are a detailed examination of assertion, implication, and meaning; and the papers discuss ordinary language philosophy, meaning, conversational implicature, the philosophy of perception, and metaphysics. In the lectures, Grice emphasizes that language serves many important functions besides scientific inquiry, distinguishes different sorts of meaning, and theorizes about the kinds of implication that our utterances exemplify in ordinary conversation. The papers analyze numerous topics, including different kinds of meaning. Grice's writing is pellucidly clear, his analyses subtle, and his arguments detailed and rigorous. For all major philosophy collections.
- Robert Hoffman, York Coll., CUNY
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

Grice was a miniaturist who changed the way other people paint big canvases. The question of correct scale is ultimately one of intellectual judgment, and in this his magisterial, fastidious prose rebukes those of us who want to move faster. [His] work culminated in the William James lectures delivered at Harvard in 1967, and philosophers will he grateful for having them finally available in one volume, Studies in the Way of Words, together with many other of Grice's papers, and a retrospective epilogue, written within two years of his death.
--Simon Blackburn (Times Literary Supplement )

Some philosophers are important because they have produced an important article or an important theory; others are important because, in addition to producing articles and theories, they have minds that "scintillate" in a certain way. Grice is a philosopher of this second and greater type... Grice's intellect, power, and charm are all vehicles for conveying a vision of philosophy, a vision that has much to say to analytic philosophers today.
--Hilary Putnam, Harvard University

In interest and power this book far exceeds most publications of our time.
--P. F. Strawson (Synthése )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 406 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (April 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674852710
• ISBN-13: 978-0674852716
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #250,325 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Grice as father of a field of linguistic philosophy, May 7, 2001

By	Adam Kramer "adikramer" (Pittsburgh, PA United States) - See all my reviews

Studies in the Way of Words, by Paul Grice, is a collection of papers by the late British philosopher of linguistics. His concepts such as the Maxims of Conversation and the basic ideas behind presupposition and implicature are vital to a robust understanding of communication through language.

As a philosophical text, Grice's work is a bit difficult to plow through. His prose is quite full of flourishes and there's enough amusing references in there to keep an interested reader going, however the reader must indeed be interested for this book to be of much use. Anyone expecting to fully digest any of the papers in this book would do well to plan on reading it 3 or 4 times. However, if done successfully, the concepts you'll take from it will indeed do much to expand your view of how linguistic communication works.

Rated 5 stars for its philosophical importance and 2 for readability, the 4-star rating given here is a sort of weighted average.

1 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mystery Man, August 10, 2006

By	Kyle Wallace "Kyle" (NEW YORK CITY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Grice was regarded by colleagues in philosophy as one of the brightest mean who never wrote. He, like John Wisdom, was an exceptionally brillant and nuanced man who (psychologist neede) would not publish.

What a shame. Maybe this in some small way fills a large gap.