God and the Naked Copula
Joseph Polanik
>ros...@tin.it writes:
>>Dear Jud,
>>I read through your linked text.
>>There is (I see) an initial statement I don't understand well, maybe
>>you can explain it a bit more. This one:
>>*Thus the predicatively orphanic statement: "God is." contextually
>>implies historical, previously learned descriptive information
>>regarding God which has been internalised by the believer as being
>>true. The indicant /is/ points to the word /God/ as the fountainhead,
>>agent and essential locus underlying the reality of such previously
>>predicated imputed divinatory virtues. *
>>What do you think? Can you explain more?
>Dear Antonio,
>Perhaps (no, not *perhaps* - I am sure) I have put the above clumsily.
>I am trying to provide a description of what _the brainwashed
>believer_ means by *reality* and *truth* and accepts or takes to be
>true - not what you or I believe to be real or true. This is an attempt
>to pin down what a believer means or seeks to achieve when he eschews
>all predication and simply says: /*God is.*/
well, if you are genuinely interested in finding out what people mean
when they say 'God is', you might ... (are you ready for this) ... just
ask them!
>My main point is that in such cases the unspoken description (the
>covert predication) of */what God is*/ is already enwrapped in the word
>*God* and that the rule that *is* only ever addresses the existential
>modes of entities (and no the simple fact that they exist) is not
>infringed by such constructions
I can't claim to have spoken to a representative samples of believers
and atheists; but, based on a lifetime of intermittent dialog with
others holding various beliefs, it seems to me that believers and
atheists often have similar beliefs about what predicates are associated
with the word 'God'. consequently, if there is any 'packing' of
predicates into the word 'God', the word can be similarly packed for
both believer and atheist; but, only the believer will say 'God is'.
hence, the use of the naked copula asserts something more that the
bundle of predicates that, according to you, is packed into the subject
word, 'God'.
Joe
--
Nothing Unreal is Self-Aware
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http://what-am-i.net
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