Date: Wed, 24 Dec 1997 08:39:26 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <199712241339.IAA27902@locke.ccil.org> Reply-To: Robin Turner Sender: Lojban list From: Robin Turner Subject: knowledge and belief X-To: lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu To: John Cowan Status: OR X-Mozilla-Status: 0001 Content-Length: 1094 X-From-Space-Date: Wed Dec 24 08:39:27 1997 X-From-Space-Address: LOJBAN@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU All this stuff about knowledge reminds me of a problem I once set myself when I was trying to teach myself formal logic: If Plato knows that Socrates knows everything, does Plato know everything? I suggest we concentrate on the meanings of the Lojban words (as defined in the Book) and how they could be used, rather than getting bound up in discussions of the English word "know", or we'll end up with Wittgenstein and toothache. I think the important thing is not that Lojban come up with exact equivalents of the English words "believe" and "know" (probably impossible anyway, since they are not exact terms themselves) but that the language be sufficiently powerful and flexible that: (a) those masochists (zo'o) who really want to discuss epistemology can do so in Lojban (b) people with different cultural standards of what constitutes knowledge can communicate in Lojban without misunderstanding. All the best for Christmas/Yule/New Year/Hannukah/Ramadan. co'o mi'e robin. Robin Turner Bilkent Universitesi, IDMYO, Ankara, Turkey.