3 ms·
Oh, if every sentence is true then the combination is true. But true or false is not an exact property of a sentence, it's a fuzzy property of a sentence in a p
by jules 16y ago
Oh, if every sentence is true then the combination is true. But true or false is not an exact property of a sentence, it's a fuzzy property of a sentence in a particular context. For example the meaning of "good founders are tough" depends on what's good and what's tough. The meaning of tough could be "doesn't give up quickly", but could also be "doesn't cry when he gets hit in the face" or many other things.
So take this blog post. The entire meaning of it hinges on the meaning of "wimp" and "though". And while the reader could fill in a meaning of these two words that makes the blog post make sense, many readers here seem to have interpreted it with a different meaning than was probably intended by the author. For these readers the blog post reads like bullshit.
A sentence in a text can influence the meaning of another sentence. For example:
"I don’t think there is anything particularly new here. PG says that the definitive description of good founders is “relentlessly resourceful.” I’m pretty sure that “toughness” is a big part of that. Can you take care of yourself and get (sh)it done, or are you a wimp?"
This partially establishes what the author means by "tough" and "wimp". But in my opinion it's not clear enough what he means by "though" and "wimp" to conclusively say that the blog post is correct or to say that the blog post is incorrect. It depends on the preconceived notions of the reader.
p.s. so a simple example would be:
"Tough people don't cry"
"Good founders are tough"
Even though both are not false in isolation (but not true either!), the combination is false.