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Example of how one’s language influences one’s thinking: Calculating with different bases in math

  • Post author:Emil O. W. Kirkegaard
  • Post published:25. August 2011
  • Post category:Language
  • Post comments:0 Comments

Read this exchange. Calculating in non-base 10 is so very hard, even for bright individuals. However, it has not always been like this. I think that I will rite a…

Continue ReadingExample of how one’s language influences one’s thinking: Calculating with different bases in math

Quote: Archibald A. Hill (maybe)

  • Post author:Emil O. W. Kirkegaard
  • Post published:5. December 2009
  • Post category:Language
  • Post comments:0 Comments

"A speaker of the language should be able to pronounce correctly any sequence of letters that he may meet, even if they were previously unknown, and secondarily, to be able…

Continue ReadingQuote: Archibald A. Hill (maybe)

Worth reading: Mark Twain, “The Awful German Language”

  • Post author:Emil O. W. Kirkegaard
  • Post published:5. December 2009
  • Post category:Uncategorized
  • Post comments:3 Comments

This essay on the german language is definitely worth reading. Especially if one has ever taken a german class as I recently have. I found the text here. I made…

Continue ReadingWorth reading: Mark Twain, “The Awful German Language”

“Stop raping language!”

  • Post author:Emil O. W. Kirkegaard
  • Post published:17. November 2009
  • Post category:Uncategorized
  • Post comments:0 Comments

I love when people use the phrase "Stop raping language!". It's a bloody inconsistent performative.

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Semantic Analysis and meaning

  • Post author:Emil O. W. Kirkegaard
  • Post published:28. October 2009
  • Post category:Language
  • Post comments:3 Comments

Again I'm quoting Paul Ziff's Semantic Analysis: 41. [...] Consequently, if my contention about meaning is correct, then the first 'do' in 'Please do not do it!', unlike the second…

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Quote: Paul Ziff

  • Post author:Emil O. W. Kirkegaard
  • Post published:20. October 2009
  • Post category:Language
  • Post comments:0 Comments

[Discussing the type/token distinction or ambiguity] "I shall not in general try to eliminate these ambiguities by explicitly stating which sense is intended. Sometimes both senses are intended, sometimes not.…

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Negating sentences in english

  • Post author:Emil O. W. Kirkegaard
  • Post published:19. October 2009
  • Post category:Language/Logic
  • Post comments:3 Comments

Abstract I invent and explore a terminology about degrees of sentences, I explore how to negate sentences and sentence parts in english, I distinguish between verbs that can be used…

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Language, the modal fallacy and the symbolic representation of a conditional

  • Post author:Emil O. W. Kirkegaard
  • Post published:28. September 2009
  • Post category:Language
  • Post comments:0 Comments

"[W]hat follows from a true premiss must be true" (The Problems of Philosophy, p. 60, link) Wrote Russell as an example of a principle of logic that is more self-evident…

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Language, truth makers and truth guides

  • Post author:Emil O. W. Kirkegaard
  • Post published:24. July 2009
  • Post category:Language
  • Post comments:0 Comments

The issue is what the truth maker is of a certain type (subset), L, of propositions. A proposition belongs to L iff it has the form “X is the correct…

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Nonsensical English

  • Post author:Emil O. W. Kirkegaard
  • Post published:15. September 2008
  • Post category:Humor/Language
  • Post comments:0 Comments

Imagine that John complains to Peter that he did not sleep well last night. He then says that he will attempt to sleep weller the next time. This sentence fails.…

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