In a message dated 8/25/2004 6:11:57 AM Eastern Standard Time, donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx writes: is science valuable for producing tautolgies ['All swans are white'] or isolated but striking observation statements ['Look there's a swan with JLS on it, and look there's a bus with Mike Geary on it'? Or is it rather more to be valued for producing theories of great generality and explanatory power ['E=mc2'] that may nevertheless be tested, often ingeniously, by some observation? ---- I would phrase the phrase differently: "Look, Mike Geary is on that bus." -- rather than the way McEvoy phrases it, with _the bus_ being the topic and focus. Note that it's the "look" that _presupposes_ (or implicates) that the observation is striking. Cf. "Here goes Mike Geary on that bus again" does not strike me as 'striking' at all. Cheers, JL ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html