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

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2001 09:36:09 EST

In a message dated 11/11/2001 12:33:17 AM Central Standard Time, 
[email-masked] 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.