[lit-ideas] Re: Rational Choice Philosophy
- From: Donal McEvoy <donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2011 15:34:38 +0100 (BST)
--- On Tue, 21/6/11, Mike Geary <jejunejesuit.geary2@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>Hmmm. Seems to me that saying: "Are you leaving -- or not?" is a horse of a
>different color from "Are you leaving?"
I read "Are you leaving -- or not" to mean:"Well, go, goddamnit. Go! Get the
hell out of here!" -- but a bit more civil than that.
Whereas "Are you leaving?" seems to be a straight forward question.>
If these different nuances or "implicatures" exist, they are dependent on
things like tone and context. Mike would surely read "Are you leaving --- or
not?" quite differently if said by an attractive female who before adding "or
not" dropped the only clothing she was wearing to the floor. He is letting
non-logical considerations and assumptions get in the way of straightforward
propositional analysis, where "Are you leaving or the negation of that?" is
equivalent to "Are you leaving?" and also to "Are you not leaving?" - because
to raise something as a possibility in this way also, by implication, raises
its negation as a possibility.
Mike, Mike? Concentrate on the logic goddammit and stop imagining that woman
mentioned above.
Donal
London
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