Re: If I were King... (fwd)

[Art Protin <protin@USL.COM>]

Folks,
    John Cowan quotes James Jennings and comments

>>
>> So how do I say "If I were King" in a way that means what normal
>> people usually mean?
>>
>> hue Djeimz
>  mi'e djeimyz.
>
> I believe that this question is a serious one that must be confronted
> head-on; no mere attitudinal wafflings about "da'i = subjunctive" will
> resolve it.  I have at present no ideas (I also have at present a
> nasty head cold), but the assembled (or disassembled) Lojbanists
> undoubtedly do.  Have at, please.
>

Yes, I too have been bothered by the enslavement to a single logic
and specifically this particular problem with this particular logic.
(Yes there are many possible logics.  What I mean (& I suspect others
mean) by "If I were president, I would ..." is a special case meaning
"give me the power and I will ..." and is closely related to the more
general notion of construct a universe where "I am president" and a
derivative of that change would be "I would ...".  While it is not
necessary to change the meaning of "If X, then Y" in English, (or
even embrace an alternatively formulated logic) it is
very important to be able to easily express the claim that "Y can be
proved given the hypothesis X".  This construct should be offered
to lojbani as a better way to say what they mean.

    So sayeth the radical.

    thank you all,
    Art Protin


Arthur Protin <protin@usl.com>
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