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On Thu, 7 Aug 2003, Nick Nicholas wrote: > > In your definitions of intension and extension, where does specificity > > enter in? lo mikce is by definition "nonspecific", making it > > intensional, yet it's defined as "da poi broda", which by your > > explanation is the archetype of extension! > > I think I've just realised why we never agreed on lo != any. Extensional > can still be non-specific. In "I saw a doctor", you don't have a name > for the doctor in mind, so they aren't specific. But you could > meaningfully attach a name to them --- interpret the sentence with a > specific reference --- and it would be meaningful; model theoretical > semantics works on that very premiss --- you interpret non-specific > sentences like "I saw a doctor" by enumerating the possible assignments > of a specific value to the referent. In intensional contexts, by > contrast, there can be no specific referent plugged in without changing > the semantic completely. "I saw Dr Fred" is a subset of "I saw a > doctor"; "I looked for Dr Fred" is not a subset of "I looked for a > doctor, any doctor". Not so fast! "Any doctor" is trivially expanded into a long list of every Doctor's name. This is pragmatically problematic, but not structurally so: "I will admit any two of your children into my program.", "Open either of your hands.". I am attacking your examples of internsionality, but I do agree that there are two distinct operations at work here: one is describing an in-mind item, the other is discussing a set of characteristics and whatever items may fit that bill. Any instance of nonspecificity is doing the latter, not the former! I reiterate that the specificity and interchangability are what we should be focusing on. "Any" is related not to intensionality but to interchangability, and therefore, to "lo". -- The Pentagon group believed it had a visionary strategy that would transform Iraq into an ally of Israel, remove a potential threat to the Persian Gulf oil trade and encircle Iran with U.S. friends and allies...