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SUO: Re: Topic :> Definition Of Intension




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Topic :> Intension 3.         <JA, 09 Dec 2003, 03>

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JA = Jon Awbrey
YZ = Yang Zhanmin

In: Topic :> Intension.    http://suo.ieee.org/email/thrd8.html#11999
Re: Topic :> Intension 2.  http://suo.ieee.org/email/msg12011.html

YZ: Thanks for what Jon has done for what I have ignored!

YZ: The concept "the sum of attributes" means a set of attributes
    which should never be absent so as to support the existence
    of a concept from the view point of an information entity.

YZ: When we say A is designated by B we mean that
    B indicates or specifies or points out A.

YZ: Attributes of A can often be promoted in forms
    such as "A is ...", "A has ...", and so on and
    mean the characteristics of A which makes A
    different from other objects.

Very good.  At this point I think that we may usefully introduce
a few elements of translation between two families of languages
that are commonly used in such discussions.  For convenience,
I'll refer to them most simply as the "older" and the "newer"
languages.  I personally learned the newer language first,
and so I frequently revert to it when I am not being
careful to watch my words, but I have it on good
authority, namely, C.S. Peirce, that the older
language, which he eventually came to prefer,
is rather more precise, and preserves many
useful and venerable distinctions from
the Medieval Scholastic Traditions.

1.  Intension.  The older language has an Intension be
    a single property or quality.  I will try to avoid
    making Attribute a synonym of Property and Quality,
    since many people use an articulate composite idea
    <Attribute, Value> for this purpose, for instance,
    taking the Attribute <Color> and the Value <Blue>,
    together meaning something altogether quite apart
    from the Attribute <Mood> and the Value <Blue>,
    the usual pathetic fallacies aside, that is.

2.  Comprehension.  The older language has a Comprehension be
    a more general set of properties appertaining to something.
    Here is where I recognized what you were saying about the
    diversity of Intensions (or Comprehensions), since Peirce
    makes them relative to the "state of information" of the
    agent, interpreter, observer, "test parsicle" (HA!), or
    whatever else one chooses to call this form of agency.

3.  Sum.  Aside from approximate equivalents like Class and Set,
    the older language frequently speaks of Aggregates for this.

Too late to think any more.
Will pick up here tomorrow.

Jon Awbrey

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http://www.cs.bsu.edu/homepages/mighty/history.html
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