From cowan@ccil.org Sat Feb 10 20:55:05 2001 Return-Path: X-Sender: cowan@mercury.ccil.org X-Apparently-To: lojban@onelist.com Received: (EGP: mail-7_0_3); 11 Feb 2001 04:55:03 -0000 Received: (qmail 62121 invoked from network); 11 Feb 2001 04:55:03 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.26) by l10.egroups.com with QMQP; 11 Feb 2001 04:55:03 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO mercury.ccil.org) (192.190.237.100) by mta1 with SMTP; 11 Feb 2001 04:55:02 -0000 Received: from cowan by mercury.ccil.org with local (Exim 3.12 #1 (Debian)) id 14RoXN-0001MG-00; Sat, 10 Feb 2001 23:55:01 -0500 Subject: Re: [lojban] Imaginary worlds (was su'u) In-Reply-To: from Jorge Llambias at "Feb 11, 2001 03:11:15 am" To: Jorge Llambias Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2001 23:55:01 -0500 (EST) Cc: lojban@yahoogroups.com X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL66 (25)] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-Id: X-eGroups-From: John Cowan From: John Cowan Jorge Llambias scripsit: > >We are talking about whether "T is (and always has been) > >made entirely of plastic" is a possible world (given that T is > >in fact made of wood and always has been). I think it's a self- > >contradiction. > > But then so is "T is (and always has been) black" given that T > is in fact brown and always has been. False, but *not* self-contradictory. > T could have been painted > black, but then it could also have been changed to plastic. But I am not talking about a possible world in which T was changed to plastic, but a possible world (or is it possible?) in which T has *always* been plastic while being the self-same table. I contend that this world is *not* possible. -- John Cowan cowan@ccil.org One art/there is/no less/no more/All things/to do/with sparks/galore --Douglas Hofstadter