[lojban] Re: Any (was: Nick will be with you shortly)

[Robin Lee Powell <lojban-out@lojban.org>]

On Fri, Feb 28, 2003 at 10:35:31AM -0500, Invent Yourself wrote:
> On Fri, 28 Feb 2003, Jordan DeLong wrote:
> > Ok, I'll put it in logic then.  b is bob, j is John, N is nitcu, M
> > is mikce:
> > 	Nbj
> > 	Mj
> > 	-----
> > 	Nbj & Mj		&-intro
> > 	Ex(Nbx & Mx)		E-intro
> > Maybe you disagree that the lojban directly corresponds to these
> > logical formulae, though that seems to be unlikely.
> 
> If I really need only my family doctor, can I say "mi nitcu lo mikce"? No.

Says whom?

In what way, exactly, does your family doctor not fit su'o da poi mikce?

> You are interpreting "lo mikce" as being valid in cases where I am
> holding secret, unspoken criteria *in mind* reducing the actual set of
> doctors that I need down some subset of all doctors. It's the English
> "There is *A* ... such that..." which is confusing you. You're seeing
> this and thinking that it means "There exist one or more doctors that
> I need, but the rest can go lump themselves". But that's expressed
> with le, not lo. Follow Craig's reduction proof to achieve the proper
> understanding of da.

Dammit, da *MEANS* there exists!  That's the freaking *definition*!
It's based entierly on the Ex predicate logic operator being used above!

If lojban suddenly stopped being based on Western predicate logic,
no-one told me.

-Robin

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