From raganok@intrex.net Thu Nov 21 14:54:46 2002 Received: with ECARTIS (v1.0.0; list lojban-list); Thu, 21 Nov 2002 14:54:46 -0800 (PST) Received: from smtp.intrex.net ([209.42.192.250]) by digitalkingdom.org with esmtp (Exim 4.05) id 18F0Da-000241-00 for lojban-list@lojban.org; Thu, 21 Nov 2002 14:54:42 -0800 Received: from Craig [209.42.200.11] by smtp.intrex.net (SMTPD32-5.05) id A413ADB0176; Thu, 21 Nov 2002 17:54:11 -0500 From: "Craig" To: Subject: [lojban] Re: Newbie says hi Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 17:54:09 -0500 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0) X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2314.1300 In-Reply-To: <20021121174244.GG31370@digitalkingdom.org> Importance: Normal X-archive-position: 2662 X-ecartis-version: Ecartis v1.0.0 Sender: lojban-list-bounce@lojban.org Errors-to: lojban-list-bounce@lojban.org X-original-sender: raganok@intrex.net Precedence: bulk Reply-to: lojban-list@lojban.org X-list: lojban-list >> I don't think you can use se'inai like that. It's (afaik) supposed to >> indicate that you are oriented toward something which is not yourself, >> perhaps to indicate charity or something along those lines. (Which is >> a silly idea to me, I admit, but I suppose that someone might actually >> be capable of charity with absolutely no self-serving intent.) >I suppose nothing of the kind. However, the language is culturally neutral, or tries to be. Thus, we should not impose our own cynical views of human nature - if the language can express ulterior motives, it should be able to handle altruism just as deftly, whether its current speakers would ever use that feature or not.