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On Sat, 11 Jan 2003, Jordan DeLong wrote:
> On Sat, Jan 11, 2003 at 03:52:21PM -0500, Invent Yourself wrote:
> > On Sat, 11 Jan 2003, Jordan DeLong wrote:
> > > > > But last time it came up, the general view seemed to be that ka'e
> > > > > covers not all imaginable worlds but only worlds that are somehow
> > > > > potential alternatives to this one. That is, ka'e is taken to
> > > > > be equivalent to su'omu'ei, and {su'omu'ei broda} means something
> > > > > like "in some relevant worlds that are variants of this world but
> > > > > in which zo'e is the case, broda".
> > > > >
> > > > > So actually, yes McGovern was a ka'e, but Sherlock Holmes isn't
> > > > > and not all johannine nu are ka'e fasnu.
> > > >
> > > > No good! There is only one reality, all others are (equally) unreal.
> > > > President McGovern, Irish Socrates, and the one where I drank hot
> > > > chocolate last night are all equally false. The Verification Principle
> > > > shows this.
> > >
> > > Can the Verification Principle be verified? Or is it just meaningless?
> >
> > Its presence can be verified if you design a test that determines if a
> > person is following it, and subject someone to it. However, you probably
> > meant to ask if the veracity of the principle could be tested or not. The
> > answer is no; it's a prescription for human behavior, or a definition of
> > the word "meaningful", not a statement about reality. However, "Pres.
> > McGovern is more real than Sherlock Holmes" purports to be a statement
> > about reality, but is actually meaningless.
>
> I disagree. "M is more real than SH" is a statement about the
> amount of similarity between hypothetical circumstances and real
> circumstances. It is not about reality only.
simsa fi ma
> But anyway, if the veracity of the VP can't be verified, then by
> the VP we should view it as meaningless. So the VP is self-contradictory,
> even if it is only supposed to be some sort of ethical code or
> something, as you say.
The VP constitutes my definition of "meaningful", and as a definition, it
is not a statement about reality. The VP refers to statements that are
alleged to be about reality.
--
// if (!terrorist)
// ignore ();
// else
collect_data ();