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From: marcel@uiucdcs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.ai
Subject: Re: Use of "and" - (nf)
Message-ID: <32300023@uiucdcs.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 16-Apr-84 12:12:00 EST
Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.32300023
Posted: Mon Apr 16 12:12:00 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 18-Apr-84 06:34:58 EST
References: <551@sri-arpa.UUCP>
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Nf-ID: #R:sri-arpa:-55100:uiucdcs:32300023:000:1646
Nf-From: uiucdcs!marcel    Apr 16 11:12:00 1984

#R:sri-arpa:-55100:uiucdcs:32300023:000:1646
uiucdcs!marcel    Apr 16 11:12:00 1984

>>From watrose!japlaice
>>		There are several philosophical problems with treating
>>	`Indiana and Ohio' as a single entity.
>>		The first is that the Fregean idea that the sense of a sentence
>>	is based on the sense of its parts, which is thought valid by most
>>	philosophers, no longer holds true.
>>		The second is that ... `unicorn', `hairy unicorn', `small,
>>	hairy unicorn' ... are all separate entities ...

On the contrary, the sense of "Indiana and Ohio" is still based on the senses
of "Indiana", "and" and "Ohio", if only we disambiguate "and". The ambiguity
of conjunction is well-known: the same word represents both a set operator and
a logical operator (among others). Which set operator? The formula
	X in ({A} ANDset {B})  <=  (X in {A}) ANDlog (X in {B})
allows ANDset to be either intersection or union. It is only our computational
bias that leads us to confuse the set with the logical operator. The formula
	X in ({A} ANDset {B})  <=>  (X in {A}) ANDlog (X in {B})
forces ANDset to be an intersector.

But we need only distinguish ANDset and ANDlog to preserve Fregean
compositionality; for that, it's immaterial which ANDset we adopt. In any
case, Bertrand Russell's 1908 theory of descriptions (as I read it) seems to
refute strict compositionality (words are meaningless in isolation -- they
acquire meaning in context).

Secondly, I don't recall Quine saying that `unicorn', `hairy unicorn', `small,
hairy unicorn' should all be indistinguishable. They may have the same referent
without having the same meaning.

					Marcel Schoppers
					U of Illinois @ Urbana-Champaign
					{ ihnp4 | pur-ee } ! uiucdcs ! marcel