Subject: Re: [lojban] Re: The Any thread

From: John Cowan <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2003 17:11:37 -0500 (EST)

Craig scripsit:

> Umm... no. "I need a doctor." I have a need which will be filled if I am
> attended to by Dr. Foo. However, I could equally well accept the services of
> Dr. Bar, so I don't actually need Dr. Foo. I need a doctor, according to my
> view of lo, is "mi nitcu lo mikce". However, "zasti falo mikce poi mi ke'a
> na nitcu" is still true - I don't actually need Dr. Foo since Dr. Bar can
> treat me.

Thinking about doctors, IMHO, just confuses the issue. Take "I need a box
with dimensions 2m by 2m by 2cm." You can need such a thing perfectly well
even if there is no such box anywhere. This is why needing involves an
implied proposition: you cannot, e.g. see such a box unless there is such a
box (neglecting visual illusions, where you see the *appearance* of a box
but not the box itself).

-- 
It was impossible to inveigle John Cowan <[email-masked]>
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
Into offering the slightest apology http://www.reutershealth.com
For his Phenomenology. --W. H. Auden, from "People" (1953)