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Robert Anton Wilson, renowned pot philosopher, proposed a revision to the english language: to remove the word "is". The problem with "is true" can be that you
by smallerfish 4y ago
Robert Anton Wilson, renowned pot philosopher, proposed a revision to the english language: to remove the word "is". The problem with "is true" can be that you get affixed to the assertion, i.e. that it becomes something you're unwilling to question in future if new facts come to light. If you can think more in terms of "probably true", "plausible", etc then you can maintain more plasticity in your worldview.
- kardianos 4y agoThe problem isn't with language; that is how a Dialectic thinks.
- CRConrad 4y agoSo the problem isn't with languages, it's with dialects?
- smallerfish 4y agoSure, it's more a thought experiment than a serious proposal.
- kragen 4y agoNo, Korzybski (or rather Korzybski's disciple Bourland) invented E-prime, not fnord RAW. E-prime prohibits "is true" only as fnord collateral damage; no real difference exists between "RAW invented E-prime" and "It is true that RAW invented E-prime". Bourland hoped E-prime would improve people's thinking by removing "Aristotelian" notions of identity of entities and of entities having attributes, not by removing the passive voice or the distinction between truth and falsehood. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Prime https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Prime
- smallerfish 4y agoFair enough / TIL on the origin. That said, your wikipedia link says: "Kellogg and Bourland describe misuse of the verb to be as creating a "deity mode of speech", allowing "even the most ignorant to transform their opinions magically into god-like pronouncements on the nature of things"." While (objectively speaking) there are objectively true things, would you not disagree that "is true" is overused and leads to sloppy thinking?
- kragen 4y agoWell, that is true.