[Wittrs] Re: Sense of "Is"
- From: "jrstern" <jrstern@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: wittrsamr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:00:41 -0000
Yes, very nice post, JD.
> Now, some fanciful examples:
>
> 1. Identity Wonder Woman is Diana Prince
> 2. Predication Wonder Woman is invulnerable
> 2a. Class membership Wonder Woman is Amazon
> 2b. Class inclusion Amazons are women
> 3. Existence. Wonder Woman is.
> 4. Subsumption Amazons are women
Doesn't Quine say that "existence is not a predicate"? Funny, he uses the word
"is" to deny it! Shall we talk negatives?
And in object-oriented (computer) programming, a common usage of "is" is in the
inheritance and other properties of objects, being most usually type/token
systems, and "is" generally being taken in that regard as "is-a" relationships,
not just class membership but instantiation, specialization, dynamic
relationships, and whatnot. I suppose all of these can also be found in common
usages as well.
Linguistically, isn't "is" one of those non-specific words, like "do" only more
so?
What else ... in Spanish you have two forms of "to be" (of which "is" is the
present tense), representing permanent versus ephemeral states.
And then you have president Clinton, wondering what the definition of is, is.
Along those lines I was just reading Fodor about opaque versus transparent
reference, "is" water H2O or XYX on Twin Earth?
Josh
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