[lit-ideas] Copula --, from The Linguistic-Philosophical Lexicon
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 29 May 2010 13:30:51 EDT
In a message dated 5/29/2010 12:26:09 P.M., atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
what makes you
grammarians thinks y'all can [understand copula]?
---
The problem with copula is big, no doubt.
"I am he"
"I am she"
--- "unless transgendered, but it gets complicated", Geary writes.
In fact, transgender is supposed to SIMPLIFY a complication, not to make
one off it that Geary will dismiss so superficially.
"I am he" -- said by a male.
"I am she" -- 'as the case may be' Geary writes, "unless it's transgender".
-----
He proposes a simile here:
"The best thing about Switzerland is Switzer Land".
----
In scholastic Logic, the copula was NOT formalised, or as Geary prefers,
formUlised.
"The S is P"
"Socrates homo est"
"Socrates mortalis est"
"Socrates albus est"
(translated as: "Socrates is a homo, moralised and white".
-----
Aristotle had a gesture towards formalising here. He used, once -- in
Post. Anal, ad 458b -- "A" (alpha capital) for "subject' (hupokheimenon) and
"B"
(beta capital) for 'predicate'.
"A is B"
As Frege notes, "Part of Aristotle's problem then becomes, not the copula,
but the quantifier. For how MANY A's and how MANY B's are thereby
involved?"
----
Frege proposes to focus on the quantification ('the number of things') and
"leave the copula to the scholastics, who have a crying need for it"
("Protestant Thoughts about the Copula"). Aristotle's
"A is B"
thus become
(x) Ax --> Bx (x) Ax & - Bx
(EVERY A is B) NO A is B
(Ex)Ax & Bx (Ex)Ax & -Bx
SOME A is B SOME A is NOT B.
-----
Grice read Frege and fount it simplificatory. His example:
"Marmaduke Bloggs is the climber on Mt. Everest on hands and knees". He
adds, "He was also invented by the journalists". Therefore, Marmaduke Bloggs
does not, strictly, EXIST.
But Grice wants to faciliate silly speakers into thinking that there IS
something (or someone) which WAS invented by journalists, and whose name is
"Marmaduke Bloggs".
Grice's paper is entitled "Vacuous Names" and it should be reprinted in
full, soon!
Or not.
J. L. Speranza
--- for the Grice Club, etc.
Other related posts:
- » [lit-ideas] Copula --, from The Linguistic-Philosophical Lexicon - Jlsperanza
