Enigmas of Agency by Thalberg Irving;

Author:Thalberg, Irving;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1702157
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group

2. Ability and being able

Recall Austin’s remark (i), ‘It follows merely from the premiss that he does it, that he has the ability to do it, according to ordinary English.’ If this principle of ‘ordinary English’ were correct, it would support Austin’s thesis (iii) that ascriptions of ability are not hypothetical, but categorical assertions. Take as a premise this report of Brown’s performance at the shootng gallery: ‘He hit three bull’s-eyes in a row’. This assertion is categorical enough; so if it entails the proposition, ‘Brown had the ability to hit three bull’s-eyes in a row’, at least some ascriptions of ability are categorical. But is this inference valid? I admit that we are entitled to conclude, ‘Brown was able to hit three bull’s-eyes in a row’. I deny, however, that this conclusion is equivalent to asserting that Brown has a certain degree of ability at target practice.

The non-equivalence becomes noticeable if we expand our account of Brown’s display of marksmanship: ‘Before he hit the three bull’s-eyes, he fired 600 rounds, without coming close to the bull’s-eye; and his subsequent tries were equally wild.’ This amplified record of Brown’s performance in no way compels us to retract our assertion that he was able to hit three bull’s-eyes in a row. He was able to do it, but without any regularity. Therefore he does not have this sort of ability at target shooting.

This story reveals the ambiguity of expressions from the ‘being able’ family. A similar story would uncover the same ambiguity of ‘being unable’, ‘not being able’ and ‘could not’ – which would prove that it never follows from the fact that a champion once could not (was not able to) hit a bull’s-eye that he lacked ability on that occasion. ‘Was able’ sometimes means ‘had the ability’, and sometimes means ‘did’.

Here is an illustration with ‘will be able’. It may be irrational, but it is not self-contradictory to declare: ‘Regardless of his meagre skill, I have faith that Brown will be able to hit three bull’s-eyes tomorrow.’ This concept of ‘being able’, which does not entail ability, should be quite familiar. Examples of it would be: ‘The village sorcerer was able (Heaven knows how!) to cure my lumbago’; ‘The dude managed to ride a ferocious bronco’; ‘somehow or other, the castaway survived for ten days without food or drink’; ‘The ill-prepared rebels brought off a coup déta’; ‘The inexperienced kidnapper contrived to elude an FBI dragnet.’ On the negative side, a skilled portrait painter might exclaim: ‘I just cannot get the shadows right today!’

For simplicity, call the ‘being able’ and ‘being unable’ in these examples the ‘being able’ and ‘being unable’ of managing and not managing, respectively. These expressions carry the hint that the subject had a lucky break or a bad break; but that is immaterial. What matters for us is that our distinction will explain why Austin allows (i) that in ‘ordinary English’, ‘He did it’ entails ‘He had the ability to do it’, and nevertheless maintains (ii) that there are ‘good reasons’ for blocking these inferences.

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