"No ought from an is" ???

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msy_heaven
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"No ought from an is" ???

Unread post by msy_heaven »

Dear everyone, my friend asked me about a confusing sentence.
It is "No ought from an is". It is written by David Hume.
I think it is a kind of wise word but I don't have idea what it means. anyone knows?

Thanks for any idea
emine tozan
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Unread post by emine tozan »

it's kinda an enigma,if you treat the phrase as a form,but i think,the author seems to creat an idiomic expression of his religon based thoughts and philosophical ideas.
Lynn
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Unread post by Lynn »

Hume was a philosopher, so he excelled in writing absolute tripe in a meaningful sounding way. (In case you can't tell yet, we may as well establish once and for all that I have very little use for philosophers as a group, although there were/are a few individuals who weren't/aren't too bad.) The quote simply seeks to establish that just because you can point to an indisputable fact does not mean that the fact has anything to do with ordering the way people interact with society. Rephrase it as: Just because a thing is as it is does not mean that a(nother) thing ought to be that way. It was an attempt to blindside morality.
msy_heaven
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Is 'is' in "No ought from an is" a noun?

Unread post by msy_heaven »

Thanks Lynn and emine tozan for your replying.

Another question, do you think "is" can be a noun as in the sentence ("No ought from an is") ?

As we know, 'is' is to be. 'is' always comes after noun as the auxiliary of a sentence. Another fact, a noun always comes after determiner (e.g: a, an, the). In other word, after determiner (the, a, an) must be a noun.

But in the sentence, 'to be' (is) comes after a determiner (an). Is it a noun? If it is not, why it can come after a determiner? any one can explain?

-Thanks-
Kevin Vosper
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Unread post by Kevin Vosper »

Dear msy_heaven

I think the answer is that people often "play" with language, at least living languages. A good example is the word "promenade" which started as a verb "to promenarde" meaning to walk up and down in a relaxed fashion.

When seaside towns developed about 150 years ago a new word was needed for the area for walking along the beach and so "a promenarde" was used, changing a verb into a noun. This happens constantly in language with old words changing into new ones. In fact today "promenade" is used almost always as a noun with the older verb practically forgotten.

I think a similar situation is being used in your example. "Is" is a verb as you point out. By putting a determiner in front the verb changes to a noun just like "promenarde." Will "is" slowly change to a noun? I don't think so since the verb "to be" is such a central and important verb in English. I think it is just an example of an interesting and definitely unusual use of language.

Best wishes

Kevin
msy_heaven
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Unread post by msy_heaven »

thank you Kevin,it's useful information
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