Date: Fri, 12 Dec 1997 17:51:55 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <199712122251.RAA21751@locke.ccil.org> Reply-To: John Cowan Sender: Lojban list From: John Cowan Organization: Lojban Peripheral Subject: Re: category errors in sumti X-To: Lojban List To: John Cowan Status: OR X-Mozilla-Status: 0011 Content-Length: 801 X-From-Space-Date: Fri Dec 12 17:51:57 1997 X-From-Space-Address: LOJBAN@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU la lojbab. cusku di'e > Cowan may have just said something roughly like this but: > >The fact remains that it IS possible for a selbri to have a sumti that > >must be concrete or must be abstract, just as it is possible for a > >selbri to have a sumti that must be male or must be female. > > But the latter is not particularly true. [correct points snipped] Indeed. However, we can save the previous statement by construing "a selbri must have a sumti of type P" as "a selbri which, when applied to sumti not of type P, invariably produces falsehood". Thus the x1 of "fetsi" "must be animate", meaning that when it is inanimate, the resulting bridi is invariably false. -- John Cowan http://www.ccil.org/~cowan cowan@ccil.org e'osai ko sarji la lojban