There are five cookies in the cookie jar. Imagine that you asked your roommate if they ate any of the cookies, and they answered "Yeah, I ate some." Later, you find out that your roommate actually ate not just some but all of the cookies. Which maxim is this a violation of?

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

The scenario involves a statement about a roommate’s cookie consumption and a later discovery that contradicts what was said, which ties into how much information is being conveyed. 
Option 1: Maxim of Relation. This maxim concerns relevance—information should be pertinent to the ongoing topic. The roommate’s reply about eating cookies could be seen as relevant to the topic of whether they ate any cookies, so this maxim is not the primary issue here. The problem isn’t about relevance, but about the amount of information disclosed. 
Option 2: Maxim of Quantity. This maxim requires providing as much information as is needed, and no more than necessary. Saying “Yeah, I ate some” when the roommate actually ate all five cookies is underinformative relative to the truth. The speaker failed to convey the full extent of their consumption, which is a violation of the expectation to be as informative as required by the context. 
Option 3: Maxim of Manner. This concerns clarity and avoiding ambiguity, such as using obscure phrasing or being unnecessarily convoluted. The statement “I ate some” is somewhat vague, but the central issue here is not the form or clarity of expression so much as the completeness of the information about what was eaten. So this is not the primary violation. 
Option 4: Maxim of Quality. This maxim deals with truthfulness and evidence—do not say what you believe is false or that you lack evidence for. The roommate’s claim could be true or false; in this case, it is not accurate, since they ate all the cookies. However, the case emphasizes how much information was disclosed (the quantity) rather than whether the statement itself is true or false. Thus, the primary violation is better attributed to Quantity, not necessarily to a breach of truthfulness alone. 
In summary, the central concern is that the roommate provided insufficient information about the extent of their consumption, which points to a breach of the Maxim of Quantity rather than the others as the primary issue in this scenario.

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There are five cookies in the cookie jar. Imagine that you asked your roommate if they ate any of the cookies, and they answered "Yeah, I ate some." Later, you find out that your roommate actually ate not just some but all of the cookies. Which maxim is this a violation of?

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