Delta4Embassy
Gold Member
"The sky is blue." is false. It only looks blue, to us, given daytime and clear skies. But it's no more blue than a polar bear is white. Look it up, will blow your mind.![]()
Yes, I know. It has no color and what we see is an attribute of that hollowness. You're missing my point, which is that just because a statement on its surface might not be able to be determined to have a truth value does not mean the matter is a simple opinion.
There is a difference between a statement and a premise. A statement is expressed in language. A premise is the underlying meaning of the statement. In logic, it is the premise itself which is most important. Statements are merely vehicles for the premise. Elliptical statements are ones that are essentially incomplete, where context and other information leads to additional information being inferred so as to reveal the premise.
Thus, your examples rely on ambiguity, creating elliptical statements. When Jane Doe says "Polar bears are white" she is typically are talking about the general appearance of polar bears. On the other hand, when you say here that "Polar bears are not white" you are referring to the fact that the transparent fur has no pigmentation and has light scattering properties that cause light to become trapped inside the fur and glow at every visible wavelength. That is an entirely different premise than what Jane was talking about. Your premise is true, and so is Jane's premise.
Polar bears look white. True. Polar bears are white. False.
Polar bears are in fact black. Their translucent fur bends light passing through it making it appear white just like clouds do despite being composed of water vapor with has no color. But a polar bear's skin is black.