“Is there a triangle in this sentence?”
What is this?
What is this?
I encourage you all to come up with your own answers before reading what follows.
It seems to me that whether or not a triangle is contained in the sentence quoted, depends upon what a triangle is and if a triangle is and what the relation is between this supposed triangle and the name given to it (i.e. “triangle”). If a triangle is something that exists outside of language and apart from the name we give to it (does anything exist outside of language? How can we talk about it then? And if we can’t talk about it, how can we know it?), then one could argue that there is no triangle contained within the sentence. But is a triangle divorced from the name “triangle” still a triangle? If it is not then the name “triangle” itself contains or is a triangle, in which case there is a triangle in the sentence.
I came up with the following although I’m sure answer could be multiplied endlessly:
- A tetrahedron;
- Four triangles;
- A quadrilateral divided into four uneven parts;
- A quadrilateral divided in half;
- A symbol;
- A shape;
- A thing;
- The representation of something else;
- No( )thing;
- An empty signifier;
- Modern art;
- Not a pipe.
- A picture of me;
- A simulacrum;
- A series of tiny coloured dots displayed on a computer monitor;
- A singularity;
- One in a series;
- A multitude;
- The same thing as that explored in the Second Thought above;
- Something different than that explored in the Second Thought above;
- A stunningly attractive and intelligent young man;
- All of the above;
- None of the above.
And you all? What answers did you give to these questions?