A comment on amelioratives and pejoratives in speech, with special reference to verbal approval or disapproval of actions

Abstract

The author claims that whoever praises an utterance which is in his/her opinion untrue must of necessity praise something which is in his/her opinion true; e.g. his/ her opinion praising the supposedly untrue utterance. Whoever praises an utterance which is in his/her opinion true need not to praise any utterance which is in his/her opinion untrue. What all of this entails is the following: general approval of non-veracity is impossible (by being self-contradictory) whereas total approval of veracity and only this approval is non-selfcontradictory.
The author presents a proportional picture of approvals and disapproval of actions. The label used are: ‘tolerance’, ‘zero tolerance’ as amelioratives, and ‘permissivism’, ‘intolerance’ as pejoratives. The attitudes denoted with the above levels are always subjective.