On Fri, Feb 20, 2009 at 9:12 AM, Achim Schneider <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:barsoap@web.de">barsoap@web.de</a>></span> wrote:<br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="Ih2E3d">Robin Green <<a href="mailto:greenrd@greenrd.org">greenrd@greenrd.org</a>> wrote:<br>
<br>
> On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:17:14 +0100<br>
> Achim Schneider <<a href="mailto:barsoap@web.de">barsoap@web.de</a>> wrote:<br>
><br>
> > Conal Elliott <<a href="mailto:conal@conal.net">conal@conal.net</a>> wrote:<br>
> ><br>
> > > DRAFT version ___ comments please<br>
> > ><br>
> > Conal, please, PLEASE, never, EVER again use the word "meaning" if<br>
> > you actually mean "denotation". It confuses the hell out of me,<br>
> > especially the (I guess unintended) connotation that you analyse<br>
> > the meaning of a particular instance's existence on a cosmic scale.<br>
><br>
> It shouldn't confuse you. Using "means" for "denotes", and likewise<br>
> "meaning" for "denotation", is correct English, and very common usage<br>
> too.<br>
><br>
</div>(length . denotations) "to mean" > (length . denotations) "to denote"<br>
<br>
(read: "to denote" is more defined than "to mean")<br>
<br>
Following your argument through, we should talk kinda like "hey, we do<br>
something with that thingy to do that-other thingy to that thingy<br>
over there". 99% of my former teachers would tear you to shreds... in<br>
mid-air (during lift-off).<br>
<br>
I can't talk about the whole of English usage, but I never saw<br>
"meaning" in a mathematical context where "denotation" would work, too,<br>
except in Conal's writings.<br>
<br>
<br>
...and that doesn't even include that my native language isn't English<br>
but German, in which "to mean" nounificates using another object:<br>
It translates to "Opinion" instead of "Denotation".<br>
"deuten" (to intepret, to point) is a very well-defined concept in<br>
German and doesn't like to be messed with.<br>
<div class="Ih2E3d"></div></blockquote><div><br>The distinction is very clear in technical English but often disregarded in ordinary speech. <a href="http://consc.net/papers/intension.html">http://consc.net/papers/intension.html</a> is very informative. <br>
<br>-gregg, your faithful half-baked philosophaster<br></div><br></div><br>