Friday
I need a philosopher of language
Do people read the phrase (1)"They're trying to see to it that X." as meaning, (2)"They intend X.", or is it ambiguous between (2) and, "They intend Y which will have result X."? I think (3) is just as reasonable an interpretation as (2), but that could be because I want these people to be wrong. Also, even if (2) the far more common reading (which I don't concede), unless it's the exclusive interpretation, it just might be a tiny bit extreme to accuse someone of "hate speech" and "despicable slander" for saying (1), even where X is the death of children.
Update: It would actually be helpful for me to know whether or not people reading this post read (1) as meaning exclusively (2), (2) or (3), or some other un-prompted understanding.
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Update: It would actually be helpful for me to know whether or not people reading this post read (1) as meaning exclusively (2), (2) or (3), or some other un-prompted understanding.
