"any"

["John E. Clifford" <pcliffje@CRL.COM>]

I,n asks where is the quantification in "Pick a card, any card." It must
be where a truth-functional quantifier can meet an non-truth-functional
directive sentence: at the satisfaction set, the set of all the
situations (sentences, for convenience) any one of which being true
satisfies the directive (request in this case?).  That set is roughly {x
is a card in the deck presented : "I pick x"}, that is , for ever x which
is a card in the deck presented (the "hidden condition" in this "any"),
if I pick x, I satisfy the request.  This is a very different set from
the one for "Pick every card", which has only "I pick every card" or the
conjunction of the sentences "I pick ..." for each card in it.  The "any"
set is, however, exactly the set for "Pick a card", "if there is a card
in the deck that I pick, then I satisfy the request".  This is what logic
says should happen in this case (assuming that the same deck is used
inside and out of the intentional context).
        That same satisfaction set plays a related role in the original
question , about "need" and "any" functions again to leap out of that
context to home ground.  It does it as well in "I will eat any apple you
choose", if you remember that "will" here is intentional, offering to do
something, not "just" a tense marker, so it makes the offer before the
choice of apples but the offer is still only good for a limited number of
apples.
pc>|83