[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: [lojban-beginners] Question about {roda}
On Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 8:46 PM, Luke Bergen <lukeabergen@gmail.com> wrote:
> oh, maybe that's where my confusion lies. So if I'm a logician and I'm
> trying to talk about "for every X if X is human than X is mortal" how would
> you do that? How do you say in a prenex that "ok, {roda} here is actually
> everything, our universe of discourse is.... everything".
Sorry Luke, I don't get your point. If in logic you say $\forall x
\forall y : isfather(x,y) iff isson(y,x)$ are you talking about books
and stars? Yes you may include in the universe also those but then you
would have difficulties in interpreting the predicates "isfather" and
"isson".
The point is that in logic you need to provide an "interpretation" of
your symbols. There are worlds in which an assertion is true and
worlds in which the same assertions is false or even non-sensical.
That is "the context" or the "universe of discourse" I'm talking
about.
When speaking normally, you do the same every time. In "Everybody ran
away" you are restricting that "everybody" to those things that are
able to ran away some how. And if you were speaking of a group of
children, you most probably meant them!
My point is that I would like to use Lojban as a language for humans
and that when used this way, we should not impose semantic
restrictions that make it difficult. Simple usages should be simple,
more complex uses (like the EVERYTHING) should be more complex. Not
the other way round where {roda} would mean something that we very
rarely need, and we had to spend words and words for the most common
use of it.
remo
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Lojban Beginners" group.
To post to this group, send email to lojban-beginners@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to lojban-beginners+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/lojban-beginners?hl=en.