Skepdick wrote: ↑Thu Mar 06, 2025 8:12 am
Magnus Anderson wrote: ↑Thu Mar 06, 2025 7:45 am
Your "A is itself" is a claim that the identity of A is equal to the identity of "itself".
No, it isn't. It's the claim that A is self-identical.
"A is self-identical" means "A is identical to itself" which means "A has the same identity as itself" which means "A has the same identity as A" which means "The identity of A is the same as the identity of A" which means "The identity of A is equal to the identity of A".
Given that we found what we disagree on, the next thing would be to figure out a way to resolve the dispute. Since this is a language issue, we have to pick a method to verify the meaning of words.
Unfortunately, it doesn't look like that will happen any time soon.
Skepdick wrote: ↑Thu Mar 06, 2025 8:12 amYou think this is about language and not thought a priori language?
There is no such thing as thought without language. Thinking operates on beliefs and beliefs are always expressed in some sort of language in the same way that pictures stored on computers are always stored in certain format. To form a belief means to correctly or incorrectly map some portion of reality. A map is always made out of symbols and a language is nothing but a collection of symbols and rules governing how simpler symbols can be combined to form complex symbols in order to express what cannot by expressed by simpler symbols. So before you can perceive anything, you need symbols with which to perceive it or map it. You need some sort of language. Of course, such a language does not have to be an interpersonal language but that's another story.
But language is even more important when dealing with what other people are saying. You have to properly understand what they are saying before you can evaluate the truth value of their claims. And that, in turn, requires that you understand the language that they are speaking. Failure to do that means failure to understand at best and misunderstanding coupled with strawman arguments at worst.
Here in this thread, you're dealing with the Law of Identity, a law stated by someone else, and you're also dealing with my posts, which are, surprisingly enough, written by me.