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Re: Lighting Some Flames: Towards conlang artistry

From:John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Date:Wednesday, March 13, 2002, 18:46
Paul Edson scripsit:

> Anyone have a language which cannot make such value > judgments? No "better" or "worse"?
Lojban makes it difficult, since among the core arguments for "good" and "bad" are purposes: x1 finds x2 good/bad for purpose x3. There are words that work more like "good" and "bad" in English, but what they actually mean is "sinful" and "virtuous": you use them just when you want to assume a scale of absolute values. The same relative/absolute split is used for truth: there is "true by specified epistemology" and there is a completely separate word for "absolute truth". Don't believe in absolute truth? Don't use the word. -- John Cowan <jcowan@...> http://www.reutershealth.com I amar prestar aen, han mathon ne nen, http://www.ccil.org/~cowan han mathon ne chae, a han noston ne 'wilith. --Galadriel, _LOTR:FOTR_