Wiki page BPFK Section: Epistemology sumtcita changed
<rlpowell@digitalkingdom.org> wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 23, 2004 at 09:05:35AM -0800, John
> E Clifford wrote:
> > While I don't suppose there is any good
> > systematic way to say what can occupy a place
> in
> > a predicate there does seem to be a general
> > notion that sumti in places stand for
> components
> > of event being described. Some sumtcita
> > expressions seem not to meet this condition:
> > while the cause of a event may be seen as a
> > component of the event, who knows about it or
> who
> > has described it does not.
>
> I can see that one either way, myself.
Really? I can't imagine a description of an event
being declared incomplete because it failed to
mention who knew about it or who all desribed it.
> > These seem rather to
> > adverbial to the main bridi, adjectival to
> one of
> > the other places, or to suggest that the
> surface
> > structure of the claim is inside out the
> logical
> > claim (the brivla of the added place is the
> main
> > brivla and the apparent main clause is shoved
> > into some subordinate role).
>
> Yeah, I don't like that solution in general
> myself.
>
> > The epistemological
> > sumtcita seem particularly to fall into this
> > category , so that I wonder whether
> incorporating
> > the "added place" locution is really all that
> > informative. Perhaps just saying that they
> add
> > information to the basic claim and then
> selling
> > out the nature of that information in each
> case
> > would be more elegant (and accurate).
>
> That's a pretty massive change, though. Also,
> they *do* take sumti,
> which makes them sumti tags, like FA.
>
What is it a change from that really is working?
The "new place" locution has been around for
donkey years and is more or less grammatically
sound (though in fact the grammar is not quite
that of FA anyhow) but the present issues are
semantic (and maybe pragmatic, if there are no
semantic differences between various ways of
sliding a reference to who know it or such like).
And the "new place" line is no help and may be a
hindrance if it blocks us from understanding some
cases. I am sure it is no help; whether it is
actually keeping us from solutions is not clear,
but seems a real possibility.