349.
“I know that that’s a tree” – this may mean all sorts of things: I look
at a plant that I take for a young beech and that someone else thinks is a
black-currant. He says “that is a shrub”; I say it is a tree – We see something
in the mist which one of us takes for a man, and the other says “I know that that’s
a tree”. Someone wants to test my eyes etc. etc. –etc. etc. Each time ‘that’
which I declare to be a tree is of a different kind.
But what when we express ourselves more
precisely? For example: “I know that that thing there is a tree, I can see it quite
clearly.” – Let us even suppose that I made this remark in the context of a
conversation (so that it was relevant when I made it); and I add “I mean these
words as I did five minutes ago”. If I added, for example, that I had been
thinking of my bad eyes again and it was a kind of sigh, then there would be
nothing puzzling about my remark.
For how a sentence is meant can be expressed by an expansion of it and may therefore be
made part of it.
‘Each time that which I declare to be a
tree is of a different kind.’
what we have here is different descriptions
applied to ‘that’
‘that’ – as such – without description
– is unknown
when we apply a description to ‘that’ –
what we do is propose a characterization –
the point of which is to enable us to act
in relation to ‘that’ –
‘that’– does not determine its description
–
and therefore the value of any description
applied to ‘that’ –
will be a matter of its functionality –
in the circumstances to which it is applied
any so called ‘determination’ we make –
will be open to question – open to doubt –
and therefore will be uncertain
‘Let us even suppose that I made this remark
in the context of a conversation (so that it was relevant when I made it); and
I add “I mean these words as I did five minutes ago”.’
‘I meant these words as I did five minutes
ago’ –
is really an attempt to guarantee the
statement –
to give it an authority –
this underwriting is no more than – just
another assertion –
the only authority is has – is its
authorship
‘For how a sentence is meant can be expressed by an expansion of it and may therefore be
made part of it.’
yes – you can expand a sentence –
and as interesting and as informative as
that might be –
all you in fact do from a logical point of
view –
is increase the domain of its uncertainty
© greg t. charlton. 2010.