The Symposium

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commando

14:51

In the news, I read "Recently, the oldest man in the world died." I know the intended meaning of the above sentence, but language wise it might be kind of a stretch. Is this a sentence where the descriptive and the causal theory of names disagree on the semantics? (Also, I was searching for a...

I once had this cynical exchange with a friend:

Him: "Apparently the oldest man in the world just died."

Me: "Yeah, that tends to happen a lot."

I suppose that means my intuitive understanding of names is more in line with the Causal than the Descriptive one.

6 hours later…

Joseph Weissman

20:57

Semantics and pragmatics always get me thinking about Caroll...

> "I don't know what you mean by 'glory,' " Alice said.

> Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. "Of course you don't—till I tell you. I meant 'there's a nice knock-down argument for you!' "

> "But 'glory' doesn't mean 'a nice knock-down argument'," Alice objected.

> "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less."

Gugg

@commando I think someone might even suggest that dying isn't happening at some specific instant, but is a rather vague notion.

2 hours later…

Cerberus

23:27

Hello.

Joseph Weissman

23:44

Cerbie! :)

waves

Cerberus

waves paw

Would you allow your children to play with toy guns?

Joseph Weissman

You know, it's kind of inevitable given society. Maybe I'm a defeatist. But I think there's something aesthetic here, too. --How do you tell interesting stories without violence?

How do you play make-believe without "weaponizing" objects occasionally?

Cerberus

Right.

Joseph Weissman

There may be good answers to those questions, I'm not trying to rule that out.

Cerberus

I brought forward the theory (supported by some research) that using your imagination to explore taboo subjects as a child will improve your ability to deal with them later.

Joseph Weissman

23:58

Sure. Sounds reasonable. Immunization...

Cerberus

Yeah, by improved understanding.

Of course I understand a parent's instinct to be appalled by seeing one's child fire fake guns at people.

But I don't think that has a lot of (negative) impact on the child later in life.

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