From owner-cse663-fa06-list@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU Thu Oct 19 09:04:30 2006 Received: from ares.cse.buffalo.edu (ares.cse.Buffalo.EDU [128.205.32.79]) by castor.cse.Buffalo.EDU (8.13.6/8.12.10) with ESMTP id k9JD4Tk2010957 for ; Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:04:29 -0400 (EDT) Received: from front3.acsu.buffalo.edu (coldfront.acsu.buffalo.edu [128.205.6.89]) by ares.cse.buffalo.edu (8.13.6/8.13.6) with SMTP id k9JD4O69020080 for ; Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:04:24 -0400 (EDT) Received: (qmail 12861 invoked from network); 19 Oct 2006 13:04:24 -0000 Received: from mailscan1.acsu.buffalo.edu (128.205.6.133) by front3.acsu.buffalo.edu with SMTP; 19 Oct 2006 13:04:24 -0000 Received: (qmail 24329 invoked from network); 19 Oct 2006 13:04:24 -0000 Received: from deliverance.acsu.buffalo.edu (128.205.7.57) by front2.acsu.buffalo.edu with SMTP; 19 Oct 2006 13:04:24 -0000 Received: (qmail 8968 invoked from network); 19 Oct 2006 13:04:21 -0000 Received: from listserv.buffalo.edu (128.205.7.35) by deliverance.acsu.buffalo.edu with SMTP; 19 Oct 2006 13:04:21 -0000 Received: by LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (LISTSERV-TCP/IP release 14.5) with spool id 1252122 for CSE663-FA06-LIST@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU; Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:04:21 -0400 Delivered-To: cse663-fa06-list@listserv.buffalo.edu Received: (qmail 17653 invoked from network); 19 Oct 2006 13:04:20 -0000 Received: from mailscan3.acsu.buffalo.edu (128.205.6.135) by listserv.buffalo.edu with SMTP; 19 Oct 2006 13:04:20 -0000 Received: (qmail 18 invoked from network); 19 Oct 2006 13:04:20 -0000 Received: from castor.cse.buffalo.edu (128.205.32.14) by smtp3.acsu.buffalo.edu with SMTP; 19 Oct 2006 13:04:20 -0000 Received: from castor.cse.Buffalo.EDU (rapaport@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by castor.cse.Buffalo.EDU (8.13.6/8.12.10) with ESMTP id k9JD4Jcq010941; Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:04:19 -0400 (EDT) Received: (from rapaport@localhost) by castor.cse.Buffalo.EDU (8.13.6/8.12.9/Submit) id k9JD4JVn010940; Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:04:19 -0400 (EDT) X-UB-Relay: (castor.cse.buffalo.edu) X-PM-EL-Spam-Prob: : 7% Message-ID: <200610191304.k9JD4JVn010940@castor.cse.Buffalo.EDU> Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:04:19 -0400 Reply-To: CSE 663 - Advanced Knowledge Representation - Fall 2006 Sender: CSE 663 - Advanced Knowledge Representation - Fall 2006 From: "William J. Rapaport" Subject: TODAY (10/19): D.Braun, Rochester: "Wondering about Witches" Comments: To: cogsci-local-list@listserv.buffalo.edu, snerg@cse.Buffalo.EDU To: CSE663-FA06-LIST@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU Precedence: list List-Help: , List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Owner: X-UB-Relay: (castor.cse.buffalo.edu) X-DCC-Buffalo.EDU-Metrics: castor.cse.Buffalo.EDU 1029; Body=0 Fuz1=0 Fuz2=0 X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.6 required=5.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=unavailable version=3.1.3 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.1.3 (2006-06-01) on ares.cse.buffalo.edu X-Virus-Scanned: ClamAV 0.88.3/2050/Thu Oct 19 03:58:33 2006 on ares.cse.buffalo.edu X-Virus-Status: Clean Status: R Content-Length: 1358 =============================================================================== TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY =============================================================================== UB Department of Philosophy "Wondering About Witches" David Braun Department of Philosophy University of Rochester 19 October 2006 2:30 p.m., 141 Park Hall Abstract: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Some people think that there are unicorns and witches, while others wonder whether there are any. So it seems, anyway, but is it really so? If there are no unicorns and no witches, then these people think and wonder about nothing at all. But then, it seems, there is nothing that they are thinking and wondering. Moreover, if there are no unicorns and witches, then what do "unicorn" and "witch" mean, and what do we mean when we utter "There are no unicorns and no witches"? In this talk, I will consider whether "unicorn" means the same as "white, single-horned, horse-like animal". I will introduce the theory of gappy propositions, discuss the metaphysics of mythical characters and attributes, and describe how all of these are related to the semantics of empty general terms such as "unicorn", "witch", and "N ray".