Content-Transfer-Encoding: |
7bit |
Sender: |
|
Subject: |
|
From: |
|
Date: |
Fri, 26 Mar 1999 11:37:12 -0500 |
Content-Type: |
text/plain; charset=us-ascii |
MIME-Version: |
1.0 |
Reply-To: |
|
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
Bob, I don't think that's an aphorism. Actually, it's an argument, and,
as a petitio principii, a faulty one. To assert existence, I suppose,
some might say "I am." But ordinarily that sounds empty of meaning. I
would expect that "I am a teacher" is a more sensible use of the copula.
Crane didn't say either, "A man said to the universe, / Sir, I am." He
said, "Sir, I exist." I think that "John is" sounds complete only if we
are tainted by philosophical forethought, no?
==Reinhold
Bob Yates wrote:
> Just to add one more point to the "John is" construction. One of the
> famous aphorisms in Western thought is:
>
> I think, therefore I am.
>
> I have no sense that "I am" is incomplete.
>
> Bob Yates
|
|
|