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Date: Wed, 01 Mar 2000 13:26:24 -0500
From: John Cowan <jcowan@reutershealth.com>
Subject: Re: [lojban] Sets etc.
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From: John Cowan <jcowan@reutershealth.com>

pycyn@aol.com wrote:

> A class is [...].  A set is [...]  A mass (in the Lojban
> sense) is [...].

What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed.

>  Finally, a class may
> be viewed collectively, and then the properties attributed to it have little
> to do with the properties of the individual but rather with matters like how
> many there are of them or (more related to their proerties) what toher
> classes they belong to -- cardinality, inclusion, and the like -- set
> theoretic properties, in short, which only rarely have value in ordinary
> discourse.

I brought up "ralju" psecisely to mention a "non-mathematical" use of classes/sets.
There is no reason why there should not be a branch of set theory dealing
with the "most important" members of sets, but it happens there is not.

Which leads me to the following challenge, due to Quine.  A student at Yale
may belong to zero or more clubs.  Some clubs are final clubs.  A final
club is defined as "a club such that membership in it precludes membership in
any other final club".

Express the definition of "final club" in good Lojban without circularity.

-- 

Schlingt dreifach einen Kreis vom dies! || John Cowan <jcowan@reutershealth.com>
Schliesst euer Aug vor heiliger Schau,  || http://www.reutershealth.com
Denn er genoss vom Honig-Tau,           || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
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