From owner-cse663-fa08-list@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU Thu Sep 4 11:26:26 2008 Date: Thu, 4 Sep 2008 11:26:16 -0400 From: "William J. Rapaport" Subject: 663: Semiotics, Formal Systems, & the Semantics of Maps To: CSE663-FA08-LIST@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Subject: Semiotics, Formal Systems, and the Semantics of Maps ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. For more information on semiotics and "formal systems", link to: 663 Directory > Logic & Automated Theorem Proving > Syntax vs. Semantics > Formal Systems or directly to: http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/563S05/formalsystems.html 2. On the relation of syntax to semantics, from a science fiction classic: de Camp, L. Sprague; & Pratt, Fletcher (1941), _The Castle of Iron_, reprinted in their collection _The Compleat Enchanter: The Magical Misadventures of Harold Shea_ (Garden City, NY: Nelson Doubleday, 1975), pp.246--247: ======================================================================== Echegaray [a hunter]...perched himself on the edge of the...log.... [Shea said,] "Yes, but where are we?" He produced a piece of parchment on which [someone] had drawn a sketch-map.... "We've twisted around so many times in this valley that I'm not quite sure which direction the castle lies in." "Magic?" asked Echegaray, pointing to the map. "No. Just a map." "What?" "A map. You know, a picture of the country with the roads and castles and things." "Magic," said Echegaray flatly. "Okay, it's magic if you like it that way. Now, if you'll show us just where we are on the map---" "We aren't," said Echegaray. "What do you mean, we aren't? We can't have walked far enough to get off the map." "Never on map. We're on log." He patted it to make sure. Shea sighed. "All I want is for you to show me the spot on the map corresponding to the place where we are now." Echegaray shook his head. "Don't understand magic." "Oh, to hell with magic. Look at this thing. Here's Castle Carena." "No. Castle's a long way from here. We walk[ed] fast." "No, no! This place on the map means Castle Carena. Now we want to know where we are, on the map." Echegaray pushed back his leather cap and scratched his short black hair. Then his brows cleared. "Want us on map?" "Yes. You're getting the idea." The hunter took the map from Shea's hand, turned it around a couple of times, laid it on the ground, smoothed it out, and stood up--- "Hey!" yelped Shea. He caught Echegaray's shoulders and pushed him back just as the hunter's boot was coming down on the parchment. "What's the idea of stepping on my map?" Echegaray sat down, a resigned expression on his face. "Said you wanted us on map. Magic carpet, no?" "No. I didn't mean you were to be on the map physically." How the devil, wondered Shea, could you explain the principles of semantics to a one-groove mind like this? "Whyn't you say so? First you want us on map. Then you don't'. Can't make up your mind. Never saw such people."