Re: A Normalization Question

Neo wrote:

> More correctly, 'brown' itself is a proposition. 'brown' is equivalent
> to the proposition 'brown is sequentially composed of b, r, o, w, n'.

I touched on this in my last reply, but would you also not contend that the following are also true, and therefore equivalent in your mind:
  "'brown' is sequentially composed of 'n,' 'w,' 'o,'

     'r' and 'b' in reverse order"

  "brown is a five-letter word"
  "brown begins with 'b'"
  "brown ends with 'n'"
  "brown has one vowel and four consonants"

There is no a priori reason to say that "brown is sequentially composed of b, r, o, w, n'" is equivalent to "brown" and the others above are not. So by reducing your proposition "brown is sequentially composed of b, r, o, w, n'" to "brown" you have lost information -- you cannot say WHICH of the infinitely many possible original propositions "brown" actually represents. Therefore they cannot be equivalent.

Larry Coon
University of California Received on Mon Jul 19 2004 - 20:02:02 CEST