[lit-ideas] Re: Can a person 'imagine' "2 + 2 = 4" (or "5")?
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 18 Dec 2004 08:16:11 EST
Just to correct typo in title. Sorry.
In a message dated 12/18/2004 8:15:27 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, Jlsperanza
writes:
In a message dated 12/17/2004 4:03:05 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
Two questions:-
1. Can a person imagine '2+2=4'?
2. Can a person imagine '2+2=5'?
----
I imagine it depends on the use of 'imagine'. It's a Latin word, but somehow
imported into England via the Normans. Don't expect a monosemous path all
along. Most likely, in English it is _misused_ (by Roman standards).
As I perceive it, 'imagine' is a parenthetical verb. This class of verbs was
first identified by J. O. Urmson, of Corpus Christi, Oxford. Things like,
Your son, I regret, is dead.
She will, I guess, succeed.
Note that, sadly, Urmson's analysis applies only to the _first-person_ use
of the respective verbs, yielding:
2+2 =, I imagine, 4.
In America, due to what Horn calls 'neg-raising' (or negative
transportation), a funny phenomenon took place, with the _negation_ of a
parenthetical.
Logically, what is negated is what Grice calls the radical. E.g. "2 = 2 = 4".
But, in America, instead of imagining that it is not the case that "2 + 2 =
4",
the colloquial idiom is to say that you _don't imagine_ that it is, yielding.
2+2 =, I don't imagine, 5.
Etcetera. Fascinating question.
Cheers,
JL
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