Category Archives: comunicare

Ostension and Demonstrative Reference

This was the title of my talk at BCAP2015.
Here are the slides: Ostension and Demonstrative Reference – slides

And an audio recording of my talk:

Here is a draft of the text I have used for my presentation: Ostension and Demonstrative Reference

Insemnari despre iertare

Spunem uneori ca am iertat un caine care a spart o vaza sau ca o anumita institutie a statului ne-a iertat. Nu vreau sa sustin ca aceste feluri de a vorbi sunt neaparat gresite, dar cazurile care mi se par interesante sunt cele in care o persoana iarta o alta persoana.

Pentru aceste cazuri, s-ar putea pune intrebarea: “Ce anume trebuie sa faca o persoana pentru a ierta o alta persoana?”

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No!

We learn some words only after we learn other words. Take ‘plus’, for instance. You cannot understand the concept of addition without knowing anything about numbers. First you have to learn ‘one’, ‘two’, ‘three’ a.s.o. and only afterwards you can learn to use ‘plus’.

The same with ‘subject’, ‘predicate’, or even ‘word’.

I want to say that ‘no’ is not in the same situation. Logicians understand it as a truth-function, on a pair with ‘plus’. However, you don’t have to know anything about sentences or their truth values to learn to say ‘no’.

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Doi oameni ies impreuna de la cumparaturi…

Prima persoana nu duce nimic in mana. O intreaba pe a doua daca sacosa pe care o duce e grea. A doua persoana raspunde ca nu. Probabil pentru majoritatea oamenilor e limpede ca nu a fost vorba despre cat cantareste sacosa. Ar fi fost ciudat ca a doua persoana sa spuna “Ce intelegi prin ‘greu”?” sau “Cred ca are vreo trei kilograme.”. In cel mai bun caz, o astfel de replica ar fi sunat ca o gluma (uneori oamenii se amuza facandu-se ca au inteles ceva gresit s.a.m.d.).

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Alte insemnari (in principal despre actiuni opuse)

Sunt insemnari care au legatura, mai mult sau mai putin, cu un articol la care lucrez in perioada asta. Sunt constient de faptul ca seamna, ca stil, cu unele insemnari facute de Wittgenstein (poate si fiindca am recitit insemnarile lui din perioada 1914-1916, in traducerea lui Catalin Cioaba), dar nu cred ca lucrul asta are vreo importanta. Textele pe care le consider publicabile nu arata asa.

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What do we do when we speak?

I think we would like to accept (and get a better understanding of) all these answers:

(1) We interact which each other by following some rules.
(2) We share our image of reality.
(3) We reason, or at least offer some basis (or starting point) for reasoning.
(4) We perform some actions, intending to achieve some purposes.

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