- From: John Cowan <cowan@ccil.org>
- Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 23:12:03 -0400
- To: Alan Ruttenberg <alanruttenberg@gmail.com>
- Cc: Chris Bizer <chris@bizer.de>, www-tag@w3.org, semantic-web@w3.org, Linking Open Data <linking-open-data@simile.mit.edu>
Alan Ruttenberg scripsit: > Hardly. Dan claims that the correctness of an assertion saying they > are the same depends on Tim saying so. I say that this has something > to do with truth. Both views are correct. Such a claim is called a performative in the study of speech acts: the act of uttering it makes it true. The classical case is "I now pronounce you man and wife", where when said by the right person and embedded in the legal system actually does make the persons in question man and wife. There are many other cases. In some cultures, "My real name is X" is sufficient to make your real name X. "I give you the grade of B" means that your grade is B if the speaker is entitled to give you a grade. Performatives may be challenged on procedural or evidential grounds, but if those are satisfied, they are inherently true. -- We do, doodley do, doodley do, doodley do, John Cowan <cowan@ccil.org> What we must, muddily must, muddily must, muddily must; Muddily do, muddily do, muddily do, muddily do, http://www.ccil.org/~cowan Until we bust, bodily bust, bodily bust, bodily bust. --Bokonon
Received on Friday, 20 July 2007 03:15:33 UTC