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On 8/9/2011 11:22 AM, Bill Louw wrote:
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<div>Russell continues:'IT IS A LANGUAGE THAT HAS ONLY
SYNTAX AND NO VOCABULARY WHATSOEVER.(My
emphasis). Barring the omission of a vocabulary I
maintain that it is quite a nice language. It aims at
being the sort of language that, if you add a
vocabulary, would be a logically perfect language.' He
adds that actual languages are not logically perfect in
this sense... </div>
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<br>
Then it's not a language, it's a model of a language. I'm sure
it's a very nice model, and useful for all sorts of purposes. But
Gödel showed that in general models can never completely capture
reality, and that Russell's models specifically can never completely
capture language. One of the biggest mistakes a scientist can make
is to reify their own model. It is a dangerous form of hubris that
can lead science off course for generations.<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
-Angus B. Grieve-Smith
Saint John's University
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:grvsmth@panix.com">grvsmth@panix.com</a>
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