0
Wholegrain Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

Peculiar sentence

"I know that a sick man is lying here? Nonsense! I am sitting at his bedside, I am looking attentively into his face.-So I don't know, then, that there is a sick man lying here? Neither the question nor the assertion makes sense. Any more than the assertion 'I am here', which I might yet use at any moment, if suitable occasion presented itself.--Then is '2 x 2 = 4' nonsense in the same way, and not a proposition of arithmetic, apart from particular occasions? '2 x 2 = 4' is a true proposition of arithmetic-not 'on particular occasions' nor 'always' but the spoken or written sentence '2 x 2. = 4' in Chinese might have a different meaning or be out and out nonsense, and from this is seen that it is only in use that the proposition has its sense. And 'I know that there's a sick man lying here', used in an unsuitable situation, seems not to be nonsense but rather seems matter-of-course, only because one can fairly easily imagine a situation to fit it, and one thinks that the words 'I know that . . . ' are always in place where there is no doubt, and hence even where the expression of doubt would be unintelligible."

The author refers to the sentence "I know that a sick man is lying here?" both as a question and as an assertion, am I mistaken? However, the question is not expressed in a formal way and I don't know how we can justify such "double-usage".
  

Top answer

I don't know what the author of this passages is rambling on about, but I think he says that the sentence can be taken either as a question or an assertion, not both at the same time. Presumably it is the repetition of a question asked before in the context. Since it is a repeated question, the speaker has likely changed it a bit, and here he has changed it to what is becoming a more common S-V order for questions in modern English: You're coming?

— Mister Micawber

  • I don't know what the author of this passages is rambling on about, but I think he says that the sentence can be taken either as a question or an assertion, not both at the same time.
  • Presumably it is the repetition of a question asked before in the context.
  • Since it is a repeated question, the speaker has likely changed it a bit, and here he has changed it to what is becoming a more common S-V order for questions in modern English: You're coming?
  • Good.
  • You have an appointment at 3?
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

9 Answers
0
I don't know what the author of this passages is rambling on about, but I think he says that the sentence can be taken either as a question or an assertion, not both at the same time.

Presumably it is the repetition of a question asked before in the context. Since it is a repeated question, the speaker has likely changed it a bit, and here he has changed it to what is becoming a
0
0
Mister MicawberI don't know what the author of this passages is rambling on about
I do. It's Wittgenstein rambling on about "certainty". The essay is "On Certainty", and I don't think any of it can be correctly explained by anyone but a Wittgenstein expert. Only the most advanced philosophy students seem to able to explain this stuff.

From the litt
0
0
wholegrainNeither the question nor the assertion makes sense.
This means:

Whether you frame the thought as a question ("Do I know that a sick man is lying here?") or as an assertion ("I know that a sick man is lying here."), it makes no sense.

I think the point the author is making is that the sick man is lying there. You can see him.
0
0
Thank you.

However, is it correct to refer to the sentence-- which is a question-- as an assertion?
0
0
Yes, it could be taken as such.
0
0
CalifJim
wholegrainNeither the question nor the assertion makes sense.
This means:

Whether you frame the thought as a question ("Do I know that a sick man is lying here?") or as an assertion ("I know that a sick man is lying here."), it makes no sense.

I think the point the author is making is that the sick man
0
0
But probably my interpretation is not perfect. I am trying to make sense of this sentence here: "So I don't know, then, that there is a sick man lying here?"--which I can't right now. Must have something to do with Moore's paradox.
0
0
Ah, I think I understood now. We know a person is sick, and we get to know it usually before that person is lying on his bed. However, he might be NOT sick anymore when he SAYS it! You cannot KNOW that a person is sick WHEN you SAY it. Thus there is a paradox. It does not make sense to say I know because of the uncertainty.
0

Related Questions