The translation from math discourse to discourse discourse will almost
certainly help, David.
The teen's dad was very clear about a double negative being a
positive.
"Not not caring=caring" but that understanding does not cross
discourse.representational domains.
I thought Joplin's line was "freedom's just another word for nothing
left to
lose." Hard to remember
stuff from the prior millenium.
mike
PS -- Hmmm, or was that something about the freedom of necessity
from yet
another prior millenium?
PPS-- I'll give your version a try. First chance I get,
mike
On Tue, Apr 28, 2009 at 7:00 PM, David Kellogg <vaughndogblack@yahoo.com
>wrote:
Mike:
Try the following sentences on your teenager. (Sing where possible!)
a) It's worth it.
b) It's not worth it.
c) It's not not worth it.
d) It's not worth nothing.
e) Nothing ain't worth nothing but it's free (Kris Kristofferson
version)
f) Nothing ain't worth nothing hon' if it ain't free. (Janis Joplin
version)
(Thanks to an imperfectly anonymous reviewer for MCA for
straightening out
my discography for the last two examples.)
See if he can explain WHICH sentences mean something is worth it
and which
ones mean it's not worth it. Of course, this IS related to the
notion of a
negative operating on a positive to produce a negative.
But how to explain the relationship? I think it's not that systems of
negation in language are mathematical; it's that systems of
negation in
MATHEMATICS tend to the linguistic. That's the way ALL higher
psychological
processes work.
David Kellogg
Seoul National University of Education
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