Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 13.07.1981, Síða 252

242
Páll S. Árdal
“What do you think your father would think of your behaviour, if he
were still with us?” Perhaps one ought not to allow any real force to a
question like this one, unless one believes in life hereafter, although
this kind of question is often used to appeal to a respected moral auth-
ority.
(5) It is not clear whether, in the absence of legal obligations and
special rights, a man who tells a dying person that he is going to do
something which he considers unimportant, will be under a great obliga-
tion if he made an explicit promise to do it. He may of course, for the
sake of simplicity, prefer to stick to all his promises whenever possible.
He may set great store upon faithfulness to promises as a character
trait. But this is just the sort of case where those within the same moral
community tend to differ. And there is no book of rules by reference
to which one can decide what is and what is not permitted when one is
playing the so-called promising game.
To conclude, I should like to borrow a story told by my friend Julius
Kovesi in discussing the use of analogies, and how all the qualifications
necessary to make them seem plausible destroy most of their value.
A son asked his father “Dad, how does the telephone work?” “Well
you see, my son” answers Dad, “It is as if there were a snake with its
tail in Kingston and its head in Vienna. And when you step on the tail
in Kingston the head squeals in Vienna.” Junior thought for a while and
then asked: “But how does the wireless work, Dad?” Dad schratched
his head for some time and finally answered, “Well it is exactly like the
telephone, son, only there is no snake.”
EFNISÚTDRÁTTUR
Sum verk er aðeins hægt að gera með því að nota tungumál eða annars konar
táknmál. Loforð eru af þessu tæi eins og íslenska orðið bendir til. Það var talin
mikil framför í hugsun, er sú kenning var sett fram, að loforð séu ekki staðhæf-
ingar, heldur sé sá sem loforðið gefur að taka á sig þá ábyrgð, eða skuldbinda sig
til, að gera það sem hann lofar að gera. Ég held því aftur á móti fram, að loforð
séu staðhæfingar og einnig, að ýmsum loforðum fylgi engin skylda. Hótanir og
loforð eru oft ólík í því einu, að hótun lofar illu en loforð góðu! Ég skal lofa þér
því, Jón minn, að gleyma þessu aldrei! Þetta er hótun, ef það sem um er að ræða
er móðgun, en loforð ef það er greiði. Sameiginleg hótun og loforði er staðhæf-
ingin, að eitthvert verk verði örugglega gert, eða látið ógert.
Ein ástæðan fyrir því, að margir heimspekingar hafa haldið því fram, að mönn-