Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Some questions for Anthony

Some questions for Anthony, who is still not convinced that any statements are false, yet (paradoxically) seems inclined to disagree with absolutely anything I say. I.e. for pretty much any x that I say, he strongly disagrees with x, yet will not admit that x is false (for he sees that if he says that what I say is false, he will have contradicted himself, given his implicit position that no statement is false, not even the statements of mine that he disagrees with). Well, some more questions for him.

Anthony, please remain seated (I assume you are sitting at a computer terminal while you are reading this).

1. Do you agree that ‘Anthony is sitting’ is true?

Now stand up, please.

2. Do you agree that ‘Anthony is sitting’ is no longer true?

3. If so, do you also agree that ‘Anthony is sitting’ is now false?

14 comments:

Anthony said...

1) No; 2) No; 3) No.

Now, I'd like for you to define "false statement". Or define "false sentence". Or try again to define "statement", since you failed last time (and/or you incorrectly assumed that all declarative sentences are either true or false).

Anthony said...

Let me correct that. The answer to 3 is yes.

Edward Ockham said...

Probably you mean (1) is yes?

Anthony said...

The answer to 3 is, quite obviously, and quite vacuously, yes.

Am I correct in my assumption that you want "yes" or "no" answers?

Edward Ockham said...

>>The answer to 3 is, quite obviously, and quite vacuously, yes.

I'm sure it is but I was asking about your reply to (1). You said 'no'. The question was whether 'Anthony is sitting' is true when Anthony is sitting, and you said 'no'. Is that what you meant?

Anthony said...

Your question was "Do you agree that ‘Anthony is sitting’ is true?"

As I believe that you and I have different notions of what it means for "Anthony is sitting" to be true, and I'm not even sure about what your notions about it are (and based on the fact that you won't answer my questions I'm not even sure you know what they are), I answered "No", that I did not agree.

If you'd like to clarify what you mean by your questions, please define "false statement" and/or "false sentence" and/or "statement".

If you would allow me to answer in my own words, rather than force your own terminology, which I do not accept, upon me:

1) I am sitting.

2) Now I am not sitting.

3) Yes.

Edward Ockham said...

What a strange dialogue. Well, last time.

A statement is a declarative sentence that states something. (That deals with ‘this sentence is false’).
A true statement says that p, when p. (E.g. that says that you are sitting, when you are sitting).
A false statement says that p, when not p. (E.g. that says that you are sitting, when you are not sitting).
A false statement is not true.

So when you are sitting, the statement that you are sitting is true. The answer to (1) should be ‘yes’.
When you are not sitting, the statement that you are sitting not true. The answer to (2) should be ‘yes’.
When you are not sitting, the statement that you are sitting is false. The answer to (3) should be ‘yes’.

I have wondered for a time whether you are entirely serious, but I have answered your questions all the same.

Anthony said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anthony said...

"This sentence is not a true statement" is a declarative sentence which states something. So by your definition it would be a statement, right? Is it a true statement, is it a false statement, or is there a third category of statements besides true and false?

Yes, it's a strange dialogue, but that's because you're using words that you don't understand. It's not enough that you answer my questions. Think about whether or not your answers make sense.

Anthony said...

As for your comment that I should agree with you, I should *not* agree with you until I am confident that we are talking about the same thing.

If you believe that "Thursday" means "a day in December", I should not agree with you that "Today is Thursday", despite the fact that today is Thursday. Rather, I should attempt to correct your misconception about what "Today is Thursday" means.

Edward Ockham said...

>>"This sentence is not a true statement" is a declarative sentence which states something.
<<

No. Michael Sullivan explained that some time ago.

Anthony said...

Michael Sullivan said that "This statement is false." does not assert anything, and that it "does not actually declare something". However, I then asked him what is declared by a sentence which is not true, and he did not answer.

In any case, "This sentence is not a true statement" does assert something, it does declare something, and in fact, it asserts/declares something that is true. That sentence is not a true statement. Do you disagree?

Edward Ockham said...

>>However, I then asked him what is declared by a sentence which is not true, and he did not answer.

He probably thought you were from Usenet.

What is declared by a non true sentence is what does not agree with reality, or what is not the case. Thus "you are sitting", uttered when you are not sitting, states, falsely, that you are sitting.

This is obvious and, as you say, vacuous. This is the last post.

Anthony said...

What does not agree with reality, does not exist.