[lojban-beginners] Re: "Why should I believe that?"

[Jorge Llambías <jjllambias@gmail.com>]

On Thu, Jan 28, 2010 at 11:10 PM, komfo,amonan <komfoamonan@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 28, 2010 at 9:07 PM, komfo,amonan <komfoamonan@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> There is a discrepancy between the definitions of {krici} in jbovlaste &
>> the gismu wordlist. In the latter, it specifically states "without
>> evidence/proof". Here's the link <
>> http://www.lojban.org/publications/wordlists/gismu.txt >. Does anyone know
>> whether that is out of date and/or whether jbovlaste is, when in doubt, the
>> higher authority?

I vaguely remember that this was discussed on the list before, which
may have resulted in the decision for the change in wording, but I
don't know how to search the archives for it.

I did find this however (which is much older):
http://www.wiw.org/~jkominek/lojban/9110/msg00064.html

The key words there are:
"Belief is something you can have without any evidence or
justrification." CAN, not MUST. Evidence or justification may or may
not be present, krici concerns belief, not whatever led to it.

And that's how it should be, because we can't lack a word in Lojban
for such a basic concept as belief. If lack of evidence was a must for
belief, then "I can't believe what I'm seeing" would always be
literally true in Lojban, "of course you can't believe it, how could
you, since the evidence is right in front of your eyes".

As for what the higher autority is, I would say that it's neither
gismu.txt nor jbovlaste, but common sense. :)

> Either way, your point stands, because it's merely a comment; nonetheless
> the discrepancy surprised me, & indicates the possibility of other, more
> salient discrepancies. mu'o mi'e komfn

I think there have been a few (very few) other minor changes, but I
don't know if they are documented anywhere. It's a pity that jbovlaste
doesn't show a history of edits.

mu'o mi'e xorxes