tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Jul 25 05:23:10 1996
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Re: philosophy - I think, therefore I am.
- From: [email protected] (Alan Anderson)
- Subject: Re: philosophy - I think, therefore I am.
- Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 07:27:37 -0500
A.Appleyard writes:
> Jeremy Cowan <[email protected]> wrote:-
>> ... a Klingon mind, something either exists, or it doesn't. There's no
>> discussion to be had. ...
>
>And, as I explained before, sometimes it is of very practical importance
>whether some object exists or not...
And each of your "practical" examples was successfully recast to remove
the need for a verb of existence. I accept the lack of that verb as a
defining feature of tlhIngan Hol, much as I accept the lack of a noun in
english meaning "spouse of a sibling of a spouse".
>...and therefore there needs to be a way to say
>simply and directly that object X exists or that it doesn't exist (e.g. if X
>is a rumoured remote planet alleged to contain big mineral deposits).
{tlhIl law' ngaS Hopbogh yuQ "X" ja' joS. chaq teH wIchvetlh. chaq ngeb.}
> {X
>tu'lu'} = "one finds X" has been suggested: but X existing is not the same as
>someone discovering it.
If X is observed, it exists. If X is not observed, it...is not observed.
The concepts are indeed separate. But if X actually does not exist, then
there is no reason to discuss it, and in my mind there is no need for any
sort of a verb saying it doesn't exist.
-- ghunchu'wI' batlh Suvchugh vaj batlh SovchoH vaj