Subject: Re: [lojban] Translating into lojban

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 05:01:07 EDT

In a message dated 00-06-12 21:11:46 EDT, zon9 writes:

<< How can sentences of the form, (1) "To love evil is as confused as to 
hate good" and (2) "Squares, by definition, have four sides", be 
accurately translated into lojban? >>

Well, what exactly do they mean. Can an act, for example, really be confused 
or are we actually talking about the people who perform the act (well, I'm 
not sure that loving and hating are acts to be performed, but that is the 
general idea). And what kind of confusion is it -- mental? emotional? 
intellectual? Presumably, one cannot will to love or hate, so it is not 
volitional. Further, is this a love of evil per se or a love of evil actions 
or events? And, finally, does the person who loves evil love what s/he thinks 
is evil or what we think evil, but they good. This is of course hooked up 
with the question of what kind of confusion is involved. 

Since definitions apply to words, not things, I suppose we could shift this 
all up a level and give the definition of "square" or <kurfa>. But there is 
also an evidential that says "by definition," however, it seems to be only 
for personal stipulations and performatives. So maybe, work from "That every 
square has four sides follows from the meaning of "square"" -- a mixed 
strategy.