Wiki page BPFK Section: Grammatical Pro-sumti changed
> Robin Lee Powell scripsit:
>
> > If da is a singular variable then it can't be
> loi broda.
>
> To my mind that counts as a counterargument for
> the eliminative
> definition of loi broda. To me loi broda is
> just as much an object
> as pa broda, at least when properly quantified.
> Trying to minimize
> the ontology, as is fashionable in modern
> logics, is Not The Lojban Way.
>
Yes, Lojban's (following Loglan's) idea of
metaphysical neutrality is to bring all
possibilities (more or less) in on a par
(although their grammars cut off several major
possibilities — vortex and buddhist — from full
equal status). On the other hand, taking a group
as a unit does mean that predicates mean
something slightly different when applied to
groups (and sets), namely not "this is broda" but
"the members of this are broda" and so on. The
metaphysics of groups is also — 8unlike sets --
not well developed, while that for plurality is
rather better done (but even McKay allows for
some groups that do behave as units, so they may
be uneliminable in the end).