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Re: A question and introduction

From:Andy Canivet <cathode_ray00@...>
Date:Thursday, June 13, 2002, 21:32
>From: John Cowan <jcowan@...> > >Andy Canivet scripsit: > > > When I say something like "I see no-house," it almost implies that there >is > > a house shaped hole in the universe, because I see "no-house" and I >don't > > see "no-elephant"... > >I think you're overinterpreting the nullary number (which in Lojban is done >with the number zero). Just take it as "I see zero houses", "I see zero >elephants". In German one doesn't say "I don't see an apple", one says >"I see no apples".
Yes you're right - I had confused a null / zero quantity with a state of being / non-being...
>the case. "I see a non-cat" is a scalar negation: it means that you see >something that belongs on the same scale with cats, but at a different >point. (It isn't obvious what this scale is; "I see a non-white object" >makes it fairly clear that it is *some* color or other, just not white.)
Interesting - I don't know much about Lojban, but it sounds as if the "scalarity" of the negation really depends on context. Although the most obvious conclusion from "I see a non-cat" is that I see something which is not a cat but which is near enough to a cat for me to describe it with reference to "cat" and not some other object <gasp>. However, couldn't my toaster, or really any extant object other than a cat be a non-cat? The scalar component makes more sense with the non-white object, but then we are negating the quality of whiteness (adjective), rather than the object itself. Andy _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.

Replies

John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Muke Tever <alrivera@...>