[lit-ideas] "There'll Always Be An England": analytical?

From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2010 12:41:37 EDT

In a message dated 9/1/2010 9:31:33  A.M., phil.enns@xxxxxxxxx writes:
I am not trying to minimize the terror and  destruction groups like al
Qaeda could inflict on countries like the U.S.,  but I think it is also
necessary to keep in mind that these groups are not  omnipotent, able
to wipe out entire countries.  Terrorism can cause  great suffering and
damage, but it is also a very blunt weapon that can only  achieve very
limited results.
It is possible to attribute to terrorists  attributes which they cannot
possess.  

-----
 
Similarly, "There'll always be an England". This is a rather robust song  
that was composed by a very British couple of composers at a time when most  
"British" songs came from the US (including the 'infamous' "White cliffs of  
Dover" -- there'll never be BLUEBIRDS in England).
 
The lyrics go by Parker and Charles, below.
 
1. There'll always be an England --
 
is 'analytic'. It is NOT like a future contingent by Aristotle, "Tomorrow  
there will be a naval battle".
 
-----
 
Why? Because "England" has a spiritual denotatum -- something Frege and  
most materialists could never understood!
 
---
 
VERSE:
 
"I give you a toast, ladies and gentlemen.
I give you a toast, ladies  and gentlemen.
May this fair dear land we love so well
In dignity and  freedom dwell."
 
"Though worlds may change and go awry
While there is still one voice to  cry"
 
"THERE'LL ALWAYS BE AN ENGLAND
-----
While there's a country lane --
Wherever there's a cottage  small
Beside a field of grain."
 
"THERE'LL ALWAYS BE AN ENGLAND --
While there's a busy  street,
Wherever there's a turning wheel,
A million marching feet."
 
"Red, white and blue; 
what does it mean to you?

Surely you're proud, shout it aloud,

"Britons, awake!"

"The Empire too, 
we can depend on you."

"Freedom remains. These are the chains
Nothing can break!"
 

"THERE'LL ALWAYS BE AN ENGLAND,
And England SHALL be free
If  England means as much to you
As England means to me."
 
-----
 
Charles and Parker then turn a 'conditional' into an analytic claim:
 
"There'll always be an England".
------- Cfr. "There'll always be an ----"
 
E.g. 

"There'll always be a ---- lamp post here"
 
------ "No, it was taken away in 1973."
 
 
----

"There'll always be the Coliseum, in Rome"
 
-----
 
"There'll always be the Eiffel Tower in Paris".
 
----
 
In these cases, one may want to challenge the claims, as analytic. Note  
that the lyrics feature both "will" (which is predictive, and INTENTIONAL) 
with  'shall' which has a different force, especially in the third person we 
are  interested in "England shall be free" 
 
"There'll" is ambiguous enough in that we don't know if it means:
 
"There will always be"
or
"There shall always be"
 
----- the truth conditions being different. One is more a matter of  
'desire':
 
Cfr. "I will but I shan't"
"I shall but I won't".
 
-----
 
And so on.
 
Speranza----Bordighera
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[lit-ideas] "There'll Always Be An England": analytical?

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