AC ABSTRACT 101015 Two-method error examples. Scroll down for BSL abstract. A: "Thank you for your willing to serve on my committee." 1. Thank you for BEING willing to serve on my committee. 2. Thank you for your WILLINGNESS to serve on my committee. B: We can use 'sort of variable' or 'variable-sort', but 'sort of variable-sort' is a TME. C: Abe and Ben are (mutual* ) friends (of each other* ). Probably one's best choice is 'Abe and Ben are friends'. However, in certain contexts, one could accept either 'Abe and Ben are mutual friends' or 'Abe and Ben are friends of each other'. But 'Abe and Ben are mutual friends of each other' is a two-method error or maybe a three-method error. D: Abe and Ben didn't get along; their (mutual* ) dislike (for each other* ) was obvious. E: "In the meanwhile": You can say "meanwhile x happened" or "in the meantime x happened". But "In the meanwhile" is a TME. 012515 This is debatable. "But like you, most people are more comfortable with "meanwhile" used solo as an adverb, a usage first recorded (as "mene whyle") in 1440." The fact that this mistake is common has not yet gained it acceptability. F: Logic To say that a proposition is tautological is to say that it is logically true. Saying that a proposition is tautological is saying that it is logically true. TME1: To say that a proposition is tautological is saying that it is logically true. TME2: Saying that a proposition is tautological is to say that it is logically true. ADVICE: In writing logic, establish your usage and stick to it. If two sentences express formally similar propositions, contrive to make this easy to grasp. G: More logic. There are other examples-some labelled as "doublings"-in FOWLER 1944. One really exasperating error is changing convention in mid-sentence. For example, if you start using 'which' to introduce restrictive relative clauses, TMEs occur if you change to 'that'. The numbers which exceed three are numbers which exceed two. The numbers that exceed three are numbers that exceed two. TME1: The numbers that exceed three are numbers which exceed two. TME2: The numbers which exceed three are numbers that exceed two. The propositions which imply contradictions are propositions which are contradictions. The propositions that imply contradictions are propositions that are contradictions. H: In fact, God forbid, I might have one of my own in print. A reader found one in an earlier draft of this abstract: "Other reviewers did not analyse the nature of the Quine's error". I should have said 'the Quine error' or 'Quine's error'-not the doubled 'the Quine's error'. 2 I: Here's an example paraphrased from a Beatle's song. We can say "Abe teaches at UABC" using 'UABC is the college which Abe teaches at' or 'UABC is the college at which Abe teaches'. But 'UABC is the college at which Abe teaches at' is a TMF. In many cases where there's a natural way that is disapproved by "authorities", people start with the natural way, then, hearing the disapproving silent voice, change to the "approved" way. Voila! J: MORE EXAMPLES Quoting displayed lines. Using quotes and italics where either would do. Putting the date of a book after the author's name and at the end of the reference. END OF EXAMPLES. ABSTRACT FORTHCOMING BULLETIN OF SYMBOLIC LOGIC ►JOHN CORCORAN AND IDRIS SAMAWI HAMID, Two-method errors: having it both ways. Philosophy, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260-4150, USA E-mail: corcoran@buffalo.edu Philosophy, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1781 USA E-mail: ishamid@colostate.edu Where two methods produce similar results, mixing the two sometimes creates errors we call two-method errors, TMEs: in style, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, implicature, logic, or action. This lecture analyzes examples found in technical and in non-technical contexts. One can say "Abe knows whether Ben draws" in two other ways: 'Abe knows whether or not Ben draws' or 'Abe knows whether Ben draws or not'. But a stylistic TME occurs in 'Abe knows whether or not Ben draws or not'. One can say "Abe knows how Ben looks" using 'Abe knows what Ben looks like'. But syntactical TMEs are in 'Abe knows what Ben looks' and in 'Abe knows how Ben looks like'. One can deny that Abe knows Ben by prefixing 'It isn't that' or by interpolating 'doesn't'. But a pragmatic TME occurs in trying to deny that Abe knows Ben by using 'It isn't that Abe doesn't know Ben'. There are several standard ways of defining truth using sequences. Quine's discussions in the 1970 first printing of Philosophy of logic [3] and in previous lectures were vitiated by mixing two [1, p. 98]. The logical TME in [3], which eluded Quine's colleagues, was corrected in the 1978 sixth printing [2]. But Quine never explicitly acknowledged, described, or even mentioned the error. This lecture presents and analyses two-method errors in the logic literature. [1] JOHN CORCORAN, Review of Quine's 1970 Philosophy of Logic. In Philosophy of Science, vol. 39 (1972), pp. 97–99. [2] JOHN CORCORAN, Review of sixth printing of Quine's 1970 Philosophy of Logic. In Mathematical Reviews MR0469684 (1979): 57 #9465. [3] WILLARD VAN ORMAN QUINE, Philosophy of logic, Harvard, 1970/1986. END OF ABSTRACT