A perplexing question

What I was indicating was, utterance is an existent in and of itself, regardless of what is said/stated/voiced etc.

Just because you say you'll do something or promise something doesn't mean you will, and those kinds of things aren't "real" in an objective sense anyway, unless it's "I believe" or "I think".

The word is a thing and the meaning is another, twyvel. They are not linked, except in our minds.

But we're way off topic now - what was the topic, anyway?

Randall Patrick-

NOT INTERESTING?! Perhaps the answer to this particular question won't help us understand our world any better, but it would help us understand our language better. And to me understanding language itself is a precursser to any sort of meaningful understanding of the world which we must use language to comprehend. For instance, what if the 'inherent limitations of human language' makes it impossible for any enlightening discussion on the nature of existence?

fresco-

thanks, but I thought this was closer to the liar's paradox than Russell's. When I think of Russell's paradox I think of naive set theory. Though I have read somewhere that the liar's paradox, Russell's paradox, and a few others all have the same internal logical structure (I wish I could remember the author or the journal I read it in), so it makes sense that where I see one paradox you see another.

As to your perplexing question, I think any old statement (whether true or false) can serve as an answer.

rufio -

google "speech acts." this is a well-developed branch of philosophy. boring as hell, but well-developed, and it's generally accepted that speech can be action, at least in a social sense.

In a social sense, sure. But I was just recalling the mythology. I think there's some book named Snow Crash, the author of which I've forgotten, which was some sort of cyberpunk thing with a weird philosophical twist about computer langauges and Sumerian and the Tower of Babel and speaking in tongues and this modern-day cult that was using some ancient powerful langauge to reprogram people's minds or something. There's so much mythology on languages powerful enough to change reality, it's fanscinating.

Very intuitive myths, I think -- since it's language that lets us create and shape a shared reality.

Re: A perplexing question


no!

how does a double 'negative' produce a single 'paradox'?

Hmmm..........can't be positive.........

The reality we are all sharing was not created, and the realities we create cannot be shared. We interact with each other, tolerate each other, even learn to understand each other, but if you want to get down to created realities, we are all in different universes.