Re: [lojban] observatives & a construal of lo'e & le'e

[pycyn@aol.com]

In a message dated 11/11/2001 12:33:17 AM Central Standard Time, rob@twcny.rr.com writes:

You want {la} to mean "the prototype"? Recall that most people want to
use Lojban not for talking about Lojban, but for talking about other
things. {la cinfo} means "that which is named Lion", and it may very
well not be a lion. You'll just have to deal with the fact that names
don't fit anywhere into logic.

If my name were Bob Dole, I would be {la bab.dol.} but I would not be
the prototypical Bob Dole, and I would very much resent your effort to
make my name not refer to me anymore.

Not quite what I said.  If you want to talk about the prototype lion, then {la cinfo} is a good way to do it -  "the thing I call 'cinfo'"  The fact that And's view also has each individual being a prototype of that individuals various manifestations helps.  Of course, this is not the only use of {la} and it only refers to a prototype if it is combined in the context with a variety of characteristic uses of {le} and {mela} and so on.  But this is always true of these metaphysocal chats -- we know what {loi} and {lo'e} and the like mean (metaphysically) by seeing how they relate to other terms.