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Re: Comparison of philosophical languages

From:Eamon Graham <robertg@...>
Date:Thursday, January 23, 2003, 11:38
First, I haven't really been following this thread, so I apologise
if my question has already been covered (I'm interested in
philosophical languages and I like the idea of an IAL but I'm not
involved in either and wouldn't have anything new or clever to
add).  Anyway, here's my question:

Why is "Koran" minadi = "proper noun political religious
publication."  While some of the Koran does, in fact, deal with the
political situations of the Prophet's time and gives certain rules
for the political and civil order, I could argue that it is less
political in nature than the Bible "proper noun wet religious
publication."

Perhaps "Koran" should be something like "proper noun |Koran|
religious publication" with "Koran" being borrowed into the
language's "native" phonology as closely as possible.  I think most
people will get the idea.

If the "wet" in Bible refers to baptism, which I may be wrong about,
then perhaps it should be "Christian Bible" and not simply "Bible."
Keep in mind that Mandaeans also baptise and they do it every day -
making them much more wet than Christians. :)  "proper noun medical
religious organization" for the Jehovah's Witnesses reminds me more
of the Christian Science movement than the Jehovah's Witnesses.

As an Irish Lutheran (Church of Sweden) I'm naturally curious about
what "Lutheran" would be in Ygyde.

I think "noun opposite religious person" for atheist might not be
exact enough either.

The word for "religion" itself might be a problem too as it is
self-referential: noun religious organization.  What is religion?
In Lutheran theology, for example, we make a distinction between
religion and faith, and organization may have little or nothing to
do with it.  Faith can be quite personal and non-organized.
Buddhism, for example, is "proper noun philosophical religious
organization" but in my experience Buddhism is not organized in the
way that, for example, Catholicism is, being much more individual
and personal (yes, there is social interaction of course and
corporate activities but not under the authority of a highly
centralised organization that speaks for all of Buddhism).

I think a problem might be that every person under the sun is going
to have a different idea of what something might or might not be -
very often coloured by personal beliefs, prejudices, or
experiences.  "Communist" for those who used to live under the
regimes of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union quite justifiably
means "noun hungry political person" but that would not be the
_philosophical_ definition of the word.  It could very well mean an
activist for the poor and starving.

Anyway, I enjoy a lot of your compositions, balloon for example:
"noun lightweight happy ball" - I like stuff that's happy.  Like
cake "noun happy foam food" - I love it.

At any rate, obviously a lot of work has gone in to Ygyde and I
think its very nicely put together and presented.  I'm not
intelligent enough to have anything groundbreaking to add or suggest
but I will be looking at your pages with close interest in the
future.

Cheers,
Eamon

Replies

Bryan Maloney <slimehoo@yahoo.com> <slimehoo@...>
Andrew Nowicki <andrew@...>