Re: thisiness

On Fri, Mar 25, 2011 at 9:41 AM, Pat Hayes <phayes@ihmc.us> wrote:

No, this does not follow. Skolemizing replaces an existentially bound
> variable (a bnode) with a logical "name", but this does not imply naming in
> Even's sense. A logical name need not be a proper name. So, given the two
> indistinguishable balls in Evens' basin, I can pull a mathematician's trick
> and say, "call them A and B". This does not "name" either one of them in the
> sense of being able to identify the particular referent of the name, but it
> does enable me to say things about the balls in the basin.


I'm afraid not.  It allows you to say things about some imaginary "things"
you name A and B (i.e. it allows you to state generalities); it does not
allow you to say things about THE particular balls in THE particular basin.
 That's rather the point of the exercise, I should think.

To quote a distinguished logician, "YOu need to brush up on your logic." ;)

-gregg