[lit-ideas] Re: "Bleach smells like bleach"
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2005 17:16:17 EST
In a message dated 2/9/2005 7:06:50 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx writes
>just making an empirical observation
'Bleach smells like bleach' as some kind of tautology may
be strong in the dominant western philosophical tradition, but in my
household bleach never smells like bleach
---
Well, if you are
>just making an empirical observation,
I suppose you'll agree it's _people_ in the household who actually _smell_,
since bleach has no nose.
The problem is with 'like' (in 'bleach smells like bleach'). In German --
ask any Popperian -- it's a different construction (not even with 'als'). Even
in _French_, they don't say 'le clorure a l'odour COME le clorure'.
Cheers,
JL
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