alborzTue, Jan 29, 2008 I'm enjoying this conversation. I invite you guys to expound further on the dictionary project once the project pages go up. Or here until then.
Let me see if I can hang. Here's my thought: "That is a bicycle" isn't a problematic statement since "a" tells us that we mean "an example of bicycle." I also don't necessarily see a problem with "consciousness is" either, since naming what consiousness is doesn't necessarily prevent it from being other things as well. Likewise, if we were to use strange and pretentious language like "This is bicycle" then we still wouldn't be in trouble (assuming we were in fact talking about a bicycle and not an elephant), since whatever we'd be talking about (whether an example of a bicycle or a definition of one) would not exclude variations on bicycle"ness". (As Robokku points out.)
Like Wildcat says, the issue is our understanding of the word.
I'm enjoying this conversation. I invite you guys to expound further on the dictionary project once the project pages go up. Or here until then.
Let me see if I can hang. Here's my thought: "That is a bicycle" isn't a problematic statement since "a" tells us that we mean "an example of bicycle." I also don't necessarily see a problem with "consciousness is" either, since naming what consiousness is doesn't necessarily prevent it from being other things as well. Likewise, if we were to use strange and pretentious language like "This is bicycle" then we still wouldn't be in trouble (assuming we were in fact talking about a bicycle and not an elephant), since whatever we'd be talking about (whether an example of a bicycle or a definition of one) would not exclude variations on bicycle"ness". (As Robokku points out.)
Like Wildcat says, the issue is our understanding of the word.