I generally think of “and” and “or” in the strict senses, but, by the same token, I get really annoyed when I use the word “or” (which, in English, is ambiguous about whether it is meant in the exclusive or inclusive sense) and people say “yes” or “true”.
English already has words like “both” to answer in that question, which tells you in one syllable that the “exclusive or” reading is false but the “inclusive or” reading is true. This is not a standard part of symbolic logic curriculum, and is simply helpful rather than a sign of having taken such a class and learned a technical jargon that borrowed the word “or” to strictly mean “inclusive or”.
I’d never head of someone generously interpreting an “and” as an “or” (or vice versa) but it makes sense to me that it would be common and helpful in the absence of assumed exposure to a technical curriculum with truth tables and quantified predicate logic and such (at least when a friendly discussion was happening, instead of a debate).
I generally think of “and” and “or” in the strict senses, but, by the same token, I get really annoyed when I use the word “or” (which, in English, is ambiguous about whether it is meant in the exclusive or inclusive sense) and people say “yes” or “true”.
People actually do that when not trying to be annoying? That’s surprising.
Yeah, I would say “both” or “yes, it could be either” depending on what I meant. I also use “and/or” whenever I mean the inclusive or, though that’s frowned on in formal writing.
I generally think of “and” and “or” in the strict senses, but, by the same token, I get really annoyed when I use the word “or” (which, in English, is ambiguous about whether it is meant in the exclusive or inclusive sense) and people say “yes” or “true”.
English already has words like “both” to answer in that question, which tells you in one syllable that the “exclusive or” reading is false but the “inclusive or” reading is true. This is not a standard part of symbolic logic curriculum, and is simply helpful rather than a sign of having taken such a class and learned a technical jargon that borrowed the word “or” to strictly mean “inclusive or”.
I’d never head of someone generously interpreting an “and” as an “or” (or vice versa) but it makes sense to me that it would be common and helpful in the absence of assumed exposure to a technical curriculum with truth tables and quantified predicate logic and such (at least when a friendly discussion was happening, instead of a debate).
People actually do that when not trying to be annoying? That’s surprising.
Yeah, I would say “both” or “yes, it could be either” depending on what I meant. I also use “and/or” whenever I mean the inclusive or, though that’s frowned on in formal writing.