[lit-ideas] Re: The Philosophy of As If
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:47:37 EDT
In a message dated 3/11/2009 8:04:05 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
rpaul@xxxxxxxx writes:
> ...'Als Ob' never caught on with
> American teenagers as a way of expressing the unlikeliness of one's
> doing or believing a certain thing.
Neither did 'Als ob!'
-----
I take that as ironic and pointing at the ubiquitousness of 'like' in Valley
Girl speech?
I am like, in love with, like, him.
literally
I am as If I am in love with as if him.
The problem with the 'as if' is that it _is_ conditional in form:
"I'll marry him as if he he were rich"
It's totally different from:
"I WOULD marry if he were rich"
The conditional in 'als ob' is _otiose_.
"I'll eat the margarine as if it were butter"
A good margarine, they say, tastes as if butter.
In conditional terms. The 'als ob' is counterfactual:
margarine is NOT butter.
Yet
( I'll pretend margarine = butter )
and
I'll eat margarine
The metaphysical problem is that margarine is _not_ butter and it is
_impossible_ to taste it as if it butter.
Cheers,
J. L Speranza
Buenos Aires, Argentina
**************A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy
steps!
(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1219671244x1201345076/aol?redir=http:%2F%2Fwww.freecreditreport.com%2Fpm%2Fdefault.aspx%3Fsc%3D668072%26hmpgID
%3D62%26bcd%3DfebemailfooterNO62)
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
