Comments on: Elvis Counterfactual

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 29 May 2005 17:42:10 +0000

Sorry, that should be ” . . . if he were dead.”

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 29 May 2005 17:41:04 +0000

In today’s London “Sunday Times” (29 May 2005), there is an article by art critic Bryan Appleyard, critical of the writing of contemporary art critics. He includes this wonderful sentence:

“John Ruskin, Ernst Grombich and Kenneth Clark must be turning in their graves, as would Robert Hughes if here were dead.”

By: Lance Nathan

Lance Nathan — Thu, 26 May 2005 08:26:12 +0000

The last of which is reminiscent of Tom Lehrer’s “When Mozart was my age, he had been dead for two years.”

And then on a related note, there’s Tom Stoppard’s line: “I mean, if Beethoven had been killed in a plane crash at twenty-two, the history of music would have been very different. As would the history of aviation, of course.”

By: Kai von Fintel

Kai von Fintel — Tue, 24 May 2005 23:41:08 +0000

Googling for "If Beethoven were alive today" gives three more good ones:

"If Beethoven were alive today, he would be more famous for his age than his music."

"If Beethoven were alive today, he'd probably be clawing at his coffin trying to get out."

"If Beethoven were alive today, he would be celebrating the 170th anniversary of his death."

By: Peter

Peter — Tue, 24 May 2005 21:02:33 +0000

Another one in the same line:

“If Beethoven were alive today, he’d be rolling over in his grave.”

By: Tony Marmo

Tony Marmo — Tue, 24 May 2005 19:04:17 +0000

The comicity effect in both cases is intentional. But besides that effect, they are both examples of how human languages are tolerant to inconsistency.

The contradiction in the Elvis' example above points to the idea that the same mechanisms that avoid paradoxical readings also prevent the application of the Principle of Pseudo-Scotus.

One idea, which I would like to develop, is that von Fintel's analysis of counter-factuals can be extended to cases where interpretation is paraconsistent. This reminds me that I have to post my paper on Opacity and ask suggestions to the general audience. (Although people can already post their comments on some parts here and there.)