What is Lois actually looking for? When we say she’s looking for Superman, we mean she’s got a search target in her mind, a conceptual representation of Superman, and she’s looking for something that matches that target closely enough to satisfy her. (Or, well, we ought to mean that. What we actually mean, I’m less sure of.)
If I introduce the typographical convention to designate a conceptual representation of an object X and the convention m(x) to designate an object that matches a concept x, then Lois is looking for m().
Superman is Clark Kent, but is decidedly not . To expect that because Superman is Clark Kent that Lois is looking for m() sure sounds like a category mistake to me.
One nice thing about this is that if you know the secret, then in your mind starts to resemble very closely… they aren’t identical, but any m() is almost undoubtedly also a m() and vice versa. Which is exactly what we would expect—the more I believe Clark Kent and Superman are one and the same, the more likely it is that if I’m looking for one I’ll terminate the search upon finding the other.
One nice thing about this is that if you know the secret, then in your mind starts to resemble very closely...
… especially in the most recent movie. I remember very little of the storyline (mostly because I have an aversion to trying to remember) but have a distinct recollection of disgust at home much of a pansy superman was portrayed as.
Really?
What is Lois actually looking for? When we say she’s looking for Superman, we mean she’s got a search target in her mind, a conceptual representation of Superman, and she’s looking for something that matches that target closely enough to satisfy her. (Or, well, we ought to mean that. What we actually mean, I’m less sure of.)
If I introduce the typographical convention to designate a conceptual representation of an object X and the convention m(x) to designate an object that matches a concept x, then Lois is looking for m().
Superman is Clark Kent, but is decidedly not . To expect that because Superman is Clark Kent that Lois is looking for m() sure sounds like a category mistake to me.
One nice thing about this is that if you know the secret, then in your mind starts to resemble very closely… they aren’t identical, but any m() is almost undoubtedly also a m() and vice versa. Which is exactly what we would expect—the more I believe Clark Kent and Superman are one and the same, the more likely it is that if I’m looking for one I’ll terminate the search upon finding the other.
… especially in the most recent movie. I remember very little of the storyline (mostly because I have an aversion to trying to remember) but have a distinct recollection of disgust at home much of a pansy superman was portrayed as.