Wednesday, March 23, 2011

hinge on semantics

ST35 asks (of Ray)

Why do your arguments so often hinge on semantics?

ST35,

Human language uses symbols to convey meaning. Symbols without meaning are, for lack of a better symbol, meaningless. I'm not sure of what your question is. Are you objecting to the symbols (words) that Ray selects to convey ideas, or is your objection to Ray's meaning.

One would note here, that you have conceded that the word sequences that Ray puts together do have carry some meaning (semantics), and that his arguments are somewhat "hinged".

This, I suppose, stands in sharp contrast to the style of argument you seem to be advocating: totally divorced of meaning and entirely unhinged.

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