{"id":7782,"date":"2014-08-09T13:32:08","date_gmt":"2014-08-09T13:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2014\/08\/09\/saying-and-asserting-are-not-the-same\/"},"modified":"2014-08-09T13:32:08","modified_gmt":"2014-08-09T13:32:08","slug":"saying-and-asserting-are-not-the-same","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2014\/08\/09\/saying-and-asserting-are-not-the-same\/","title":{"rendered":"Saying and Asserting are Not the Same"},"content":{"rendered":"

To utter a declarative sentence is to say it.  But the saying of a declarative sentence need not be an asserting of it or its content.  Suppose I want to give an example of a declarative sentence in a language class.  I say, "The average temperature on Mars is the same as on Earth."  I have not made an assertion in saying this (false) sentence, but I have said something.  So saying and asserting are not the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

That's one argument.  Here is another.  One says one's prayers but in so doing one does not make assertions.  Ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae<\/em> is not an assertion. <\/span><\/p>\n

But this is not quite right.  Allahu akbar<\/em> — God is great — said by someone would constitute an assertion.  And the same goes for the 'Who art in heaven' clause of the first sentence of the Pater Noster<\/em>.  It looks form these examples as if assertions can be part of prayer.  So perhaps I should say the following.  What is specifically prayerful about prayers is nothing assertive but something entreating, supplicatory, and the like.<\/span><\/p>\n

But even this is not quite obvious.  The contemplation of the existence and attributes of God is by itself arguably a form of prayer, a form free of supplication and entreaty.  And then there is this marvellous quotation from Ralph Waldo Emerson:<\/span><\/p>\n

Prayer that craves a particular commodity, — anything less than all good, — is vicious. Prayer is the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view. It is the soliloquy of a beholding and jubilant soul. It is the spirit of God pronouncing his works good. But prayer as a means to effect a private end is meanness and theft. It supposes dualism and not unity in nature and consciousness. As soon as the man is at one with God, he will not beg. He will then see prayer in all action. The prayer of the farmer kneeling in his field to weed it, the prayer of the rower kneeling with the stroke of his oar, are true prayers heard throughout nature, though for cheap ends.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 So my second argument may not work.  But the first one does.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Hitchens: No Understanding of Religion<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>Merton, Marilyn, and David Carradine<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>On Her Deathbed: "I Fear that There is Nothing on the Other Side"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>Latin Prayers and the Prayers of the Rosary in Latin.<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/fieldset>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To utter a declarative sentence is to say it.  But the saying of a declarative sentence need not be an asserting of it or its content.  Suppose I want to give an example of a declarative sentence in a language class.  I say, "The average temperature on Mars is the same as on Earth."  I … Continue reading “Saying and Asserting are Not the Same”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[415,408,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-emerson-thoreau-and-friends","category-language-philosophy-of","category-spiritual-exercises"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7782\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}