From jcowan@reutershealth.com Fri Nov 08 19:09:17 2002 Return-Path: X-Sender: lojban-out@lojban.org X-Apparently-To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_2_3_0); 9 Nov 2002 03:09:17 -0000 Received: (qmail 82988 invoked from network); 9 Nov 2002 03:09:17 -0000 Received: from unknown (66.218.66.218) by m1.grp.scd.yahoo.com with QMQP; 9 Nov 2002 03:09:17 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO digitalkingdom.org) (204.152.186.175) by mta3.grp.scd.yahoo.com with SMTP; 9 Nov 2002 03:09:16 -0000 Received: from lojban-out by digitalkingdom.org with local (Exim 4.05) id 18ALzk-00007M-00 for lojban@yahoogroups.com; Fri, 08 Nov 2002 19:09:12 -0800 Received: from digitalkingdom.org ([204.152.186.175] helo=chain) by digitalkingdom.org with esmtp (Exim 4.05) id 18ALzP-00006P-00; Fri, 08 Nov 2002 19:08:51 -0800 Received: with ECARTIS (v1.0.0; list lojban-list); Fri, 08 Nov 2002 19:08:50 -0800 (PST) Received: from [65.246.141.151] (helo=mail2.reutershealth.com) by digitalkingdom.org with esmtp (Exim 4.05) id 18ALzB-00005W-00 for lojban-list@lojban.org; Fri, 08 Nov 2002 19:08:37 -0800 Received: from skunk.reutershealth.com (IDENT:cowan@[10.65.117.21]) by mail2.reutershealth.com (Pro-8.9.3/Pro-8.9.3) with SMTP id WAA09652; Fri, 8 Nov 2002 22:20:09 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <200211090320.WAA09652@mail2.reutershealth.com> Received: by skunk.reutershealth.com (sSMTP sendmail emulation); Fri, 8 Nov 2002 22:06:06 +4300 Subject: [lojban] Re: quantifying over imaginaries (was: Re: partial recantation in favour of solomonics To: fracture@allusion.net Date: Fri, 8 Nov 2002 22:06:06 -0500 (EST) Cc: lojban-list@lojban.org In-Reply-To: <20021109015455.GA87975@allusion.net> from "Jordan DeLong" at Nov 08, 2002 07:54:55 PM X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL6] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-archive-position: 2565 X-ecartis-version: Ecartis v1.0.0 Sender: lojban-list-bounce@lojban.org Errors-to: lojban-list-bounce@lojban.org X-original-sender: jcowan@reutershealth.com Precedence: bulk X-list: lojban-list From: John Cowan Reply-To: jcowan@reutershealth.com X-Yahoo-Group-Post: member; u=8122456 X-Yahoo-Profile: john_w_cowan Jordan DeLong scripsit: > I think Cowan's stuff about 0/0 and this here is bunk. pi mu isn't > a divison, it's a multiplication. 0.5 * 0 == 0. Yes, but to say that 50% of unicorns are male is usually taken to exclude that 75% are male. Yet 0.75 * 0 is just as much 0. The indeterminacy is the same. > Furthermore, I think this is entirely beside the point; {ro} is not > {piro} (remember piro is exactly the same as pa), we don't have to > treat it like a fractional quantifier, because it isn't one. piro is "the whole of"; pa is "one of". Extensionally these may coincide, but intensionally they are quite distinct. Still, "ro" is not fractional, it's true. > *mutters about how close this issue was to being solved* If it were easy to solve, it wouldn't still be troubling us in 2002. -- John Cowan jcowan@reutershealth.com http://www.ccil.org/~cowan Most languages are dramatically underdescribed, and at least one is dramatically overdescribed. Still other languages are simultaneously overdescribed and underdescribed. Welsh pertains to the third category. --Alan King