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 m0rFGD7-00006wC; Wed, 7 Dec 94 08:50 EET Message-Id: Received: from FINHUTC.HUT.FI by FINHUTC.hut.fi (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with BSMTP id 6792; Wed, 07 Dec 94 08:50:58 EET Received: from SEARN.SUNET.SE (NJE origin MAILER@SEARN) by FINHUTC.HUT.FI (LMail V1.1d/1.7f) with BSMTP id 6789; Wed, 7 Dec 1994 08:50:58 +0200 Received: from SEARN.SUNET.SE (NJE origin LISTSERV@SEARN) by SEARN.SUNET.SE (LMail V1.2a/1.8a) with BSMTP id 2253; Wed, 7 Dec 1994 07:47:41 +0100 Date: Wed, 7 Dec 1994 01:48:43 -0500 Reply-To: Logical Language Group Sender: Lojban list From: Logical Language Group Subject: Re: (1) loi; (2) le v. la To: ucleaar@ucl.ac.uk Cc: lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu Content-Length: 982 Lines: 18 >I think this is "The king of France is bald", isn't it? If so, we really >don't want to get embroiled in this discussion. However, to my (very >limited) knowledge, the opposing positions regarding "the king of France >is bald" are (a) that it is false, and (b) that it has no truth value, >or has a 3rd truth value (i.e. not T or F). I am not aware of a position >that holds the statement to be true [but as I say, I am ill acquainted >with the literature]. But with "le", and with English "the", "The king of France is bald" CAN be true. Imagine that you are preparing for a play, and someone auditions for the part of Louis XIV (or other appropriate king) with shoulder length hair which they are unwilling to crop. You might indeed say "The king of France is bald" and it would indeed be true. This is because English "the" is not veridical - the king of France need not actually be a monarch ruling over the nation of France that one reads about in the newspapers. lojbab