Questions tagged [syntax]
13 questions
17
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Is "This sentence is written in English" nonsense?
Wittgenstein and many others have said that our language gives the appearance of truth to some nonsense.
Do you think the very simple "This sentence is written in English." is such nonsense which seems true?
It seems true, but if you translate it…
François
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2
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3 answers
Can something be both a type and a token?
I wonder, can something be both a type and a token (in reference to the type-token distinction in philosophy)? For example, an individual dog is a token of the type of dog, but the type of dog is itself a token of the type of animal species. So, can…
user107952
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Are There Finitary Logical Constraints on Converting Recursive Syntax to Semantics?
From the logical standpoint can we continue these series on and on and still be able to make sense of it?
1. I know <--- no problem
2. I know that you know …
Eugene D. Gubenkov
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Does a formula denote it's truth value once the variable is assigned?
In a lot of systems like boolean algebra '=' is treated as a function that takes two inputs and yields a truth value.
In first-order logic we often use an expression like 1. p(x)=(x+1=2) and to treat 'x+1=2' as something that can denote a truth…
Confused
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What is the syntactic representation of mental content? Is that even possible?
In the philosophy of mind, the Representational Theory of Mind (RTM) usually is said to be associated with semantic propertys of intentionality. Does representation have to be semantic? What would be the meaning of "syntactic representation", and…
eer
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Multiple interpretations of the same syntax in mathematics?
Mathematics are doing a very odd usage of syntax and semantics. Let's take a wikipedia page as an example : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intuitionistic_logic
Here we have a syntax which is given, and only after the semantics and actually even…
François
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Are implementations to semiotics what proofs are to syntax, and models to semantics?
I see this term implementation and its family used here and there in writings on set theory. There are implementations of natural numbers, of ordered pairs, of functions, of "mathematics in general."
I feel like this is not the same as having a…
Kristian Berry
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Quine's quasi quotation
I would like to know what's the point of Quine's quasi-quotation, that is the use of angle brackets. How does they differ from ordinary commas quotation?
Frank
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If syntax isn’t semantics, will we abandon syntax one day to tackle the first person perspective?
Say by building experience machines once we learn how brains better work.
If syntax isn’t semantics, we will never write down a depiction of the first person subjective perspective, where semantics abounds.
There will never be a book or formula. And…
J Kusin
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The Indexicality of "Ask this question?"
I was messing around with liar and similar sentences, and noticed a recurring issue with indexical quarantine with respect to the examples at stake. Meaning that something seemed to "go wrong" when you reformulated these weird sentences (not just…
Kristian Berry
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Font/typeface color, calligrams, and the syntax-semantics distinction
There is a set of books by the author Mark Z. Danielewski, that features a very irregular (but not necessarily absolutely unique) style. For example, in his debut novel, the word house (and counterparts of that word in other languages) is always…
Kristian Berry
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What's with philosophers and their use of quotation marks?
I'm reading Hofstadter and Quine at the same time and this is deep.
An explanation:
The logician's use of "quotations" in sentences like this one would suggest that a quoted phrase is essentially a noun. Nouns are names for things, and the thing…
R. Burton
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What is the difference between syntax, semantics and pragmatics?
I would be interested to find more about the way semantics intertwines with pragmatics.
Naturally, I associate semantics with more conventional theories like Russell`s as opposed to Gricean pragmatics.
Could you give a practical example of sentence…
s.dragos
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