Return-Path: <@FINHUTC.HUT.FI:LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET> Received: from FINHUTC.hut.fi by xiron.pc.helsinki.fi with smtp (Linux Smail3.1.28.1 #1) id m0r4dlF-00005bC; Tue, 8 Nov 94 01:46 EET Message-Id: Received: from FINHUTC.HUT.FI by FINHUTC.hut.fi (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with BSMTP id 5593; Tue, 08 Nov 94 01:46:17 EET Received: from SEARN.SUNET.SE (NJE origin MAILER@SEARN) by FINHUTC.HUT.FI (LMail V1.1d/1.7f) with BSMTP id 5592; Tue, 8 Nov 1994 01:46:16 +0200 Received: from SEARN.SUNET.SE (NJE origin LISTSERV@SEARN) by SEARN.SUNET.SE (LMail V1.2a/1.8a) with BSMTP id 8795; Tue, 8 Nov 1994 00:42:08 +0100 Date: Mon, 7 Nov 1994 23:41:20 +0000 Reply-To: ucleaar Sender: Lojban list From: ucleaar Subject: Re: {lo} excellent as is X-To: lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu To: Veijo Vilva In-Reply-To: (Your message of Mon, 07 Nov 94 10:49:03 EST.) Content-Length: 739 Lines: 18 Bob: > .i su'o lo mlatu cu grusi > > is meaningless since, of course, the utterance is very likely true. > *Everything* is likely true in an infinite universe with variable > laws, including contradictions. We don't know. What matters for purposes of meaning is not whether a proposition is true or false but the conditions under which it would be true or false. The meaning of the above example, then, can be defined as the set that includes every universe in which there is one grey (?) cat, and excludes every universe in which there is no grey cat. What universes actually do or don't exist isn't relevant. If every possible universe exists, then for the purposes of defining meanings, we can *pretend* that some don't. --- And