Clark, List: Right, that ambiguity surfaces in the two sentences that I initially mentioned a few days ago.
- A unicorn has one horn. - Unicorns are real. The object of "unicorn" in the first sentence is the *idea *of a unicorn, and that is what makes it true, along with the fact that a universal proposition does not assert the *existence *of anything. The object of "unicorns" in the second sentence is the collection of *actual *animals that are unicorns, and that is what makes it false. Regards, Jon Alan Schmidt - Olathe, Kansas, USA Professional Engineer, Amateur Philosopher, Lutheran Layman www.LinkedIn.com/in/JonAlanSchmidt - twitter.com/JonAlanSchmidt On Tue, Feb 14, 2017 at 2:14 PM, Clark Goble <cl...@lextek.com> wrote: > > On Feb 14, 2017, at 12:04 PM, Jon Alan Schmidt <jonalanschm...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > A Replica of the word "unicorn" is thus a Rhematic Indexical Sinsign that > calls up the *idea *of a unicorn because, although no unicorn really > *exists*, real *descriptions *of the unicorn are well known to the > speaker and his/her auditor. > > > This is why I said I thought things depend upon equivocation. When we say > “phoenix” it’s not clear if we’re intending to refer to the idea of the > phoenix (and thus a real general) or the phoenix in the world (which is > false and thus has no referent). > > The question is what type of object we’re referring to. Of course if I > refer to the existing object of say “trucks” I’m also referring to the idea > of them since that is partially how I refer. I refer by giving hints since > the indexical link can’t be directly shared. Instead I share replicants of > icons or indices or gesture to indicate indexically. > > I’m of the opinion much of this is an artifact of language simply because > our words are often ambiguous regarding the sense in which we intend them. > By simply making clear how we intend to use a word a lot of the problems > disappear. I wouldn’t go so far as to say all of them do of course. There’s > always that gap between dynamic and immediate object and immediate object > and interpretant. Not to mention ambiguity over how the sign-vehicle > functions. >
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