Re: A question of semantics

Estel Telcontar wrote:

>This, what you're talking about here, gets me into a tangled knot of
>thoughts, which I'm going to try to disentangle.  I'm not sure how much
>of these thoughts are relevant to what you're talking about.
>
>First, your example reminds me of a specific instance where I've never
>found adequate words to express the kind of certainty/uncertainty of an
>experience.  I'm thinking of an experience that we've probably all had,
>though I sometimes think it occurs to me with a higher-than-average
>frequency (often several times daily): the experience of "seeing"
>someone, only to look again and find it's someone you don't know.
>Let's say the person I didn't actually see is called Jenny.
>
I'm not entirely sure what's wrong with 'I thought I saw Jenny'. Indeed,
I would say that describes exactly what happened. If I was unable to
tell whether or not it actually was Jenny (looked again and I she wasn't
there, or even after looking again I wasn't sure because I hadn't seen
Jenny in some time), then I would've said 'I think I saw Jenny' (even if
I'm no longer actively thinking it and I'm just mentioning it, so the
tense is technically wrong).

>The problem is, I can't say "I saw Jenny", because it wasn't actually
>her.
>
>I also can't say "I thought I saw Jenny", because that makes it all
>sound too intentional - like I actually believed I saw Jenny till I
>looked again and saw it wasn't her.  But that's also wrong, because
>after "seeing" Jenny, I was aware that, given the briefness of the
>"seeing", and the frequency with which I mistakenly "see" people, it
>most likely wasn't her.
>
But for the brief moment between seeing notJenny the first time and the
second time, didn't you think it was Jenny? Isn't this the reason for
the looking a second time? Belief isn't an intentional thing, nor is
thinking (in this sense).  When you say 'I thought I saw Jenny', the
only thing I would interpret that as is:
1. Light entered your eyes from a scene only briefly in view.
2. Your brain processed said light and decided a part of it was what
looks like Jenny. Therefore, at this stage, you think you saw Jenny.
3. Intrigued, you move your head to see if it is Jenny. Why we do this
I'm not sure but it seems almost automatic.
4. More light from the same source enters your eyes and is processed by
your brain.
5. Your brain decides this time that it isn't Jenny. Therefore, at this
stage, you *thought* you saw Jenny, but you no longer do (and 'I thought
I saw Jenny' is sufficient to express this).
or
4. You can't see the same person again. At this stage, you aren't sure,
so you think you saw Jenny, but aren't certain (and 'I think I saw
Jenny' is sufficient to express this in certain contexts; you might want
to add the '... but I'm not certain' disclaimer).

Is that not what you mean?

Tristan

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