1913 – 1988
Paul Grice (1913–1988) was a British philosopher of language who taught at Oxford and later the University of California, Berkeley. He is best known for developing the theory of conversational implicature and the Cooperative Principle, foundational contributions to pragmatics and the philosophy of language. His work bridged ordinary language philosophy and formal semantics, shaping how linguists and philosophers analyze meaning beyond literal content.
Developed the theory of conversational implicature distinguishing what is said from what is communicated
Formulated the Cooperative Principle and four conversational maxims (quantity, quality, relation, manner)
Distinguished natural meaning (indicating) from non-natural meaning (intending to communicate)
Contributed to the analysis of speaker meaning and intentionality in communication
Influenced the development of formal pragmatics and relevance theory