Many languages use past tense to signal that something is not fact, and nobody knows why.
>>42545091Like? Such as?
>>42545096>If I had a million dollars, I would buy a house.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterfactual_conditional#The_grammar_of_counterfactualityhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrealis_mood
>>42545091Because present and future tense are not as factually set.You can't be factually wrong about the future until it happens.You can't know if something is wrong in the present, it must be investigated first which means it is past.
>>42545106Like this.Saying>If I have a million dollarsMeans you might, you just don't know.>If I will have a million dollars...Again, this could very well be true.It's only if set in the past can you claim a fact that is KNOWN to not be fact.
>>42545707This, coupled with the fact that we are not conscious actors but rather conscious reactors. Analysis is measurement, and we measure what already is, meaning the act measures past events.>>42545106If i ever win the lottery, i will buy ____. This is a common saying here, no past tense.
>>42545106Isn't that just conditional tense?
>>42545707I'm not following. That would mean both options are available; factual and counterfactual. You would need to add something besides the past tense morphology to signal which. But this use of past tense morphology specifically signals counterfactuality.
>>42546145>If i ever win the lottery, i will buy ____.I don't think that signals counterfactuality, just conditionality.
>>42546202Yes but "conditional tense" isn't used for all types of conditional sentences but specifically for the kind dealing with the unreal/counterfactual. And it's past tense morphology even though it has nothing to do with being backwards in time but rather the past tense morphology signals unreality. The terms are confusing/misleading.
>>42545091The metaphysical spookiness you're sensing is that counterfactuals can influence reality through human decision-making. Through the human mind the counterfactual becomes causally effective.Our entire ability to imagine the future is built upon counterfactuality: this is not the case, but perhaps could be. Before one becomes a doctor, one must think they can become one, and imagine one's self as one.Fictional entities are ontologically counterfactual: "I do not exist" is at the core of their being. They have profoundly influenced humanity since we first started telling stories, sometimes as influential as real people. Sometimes with gods even more. A god is a fallen fictional entity: one that seeks to obscure the truth of its fictionality. An "enlightened" fictional entity has awareness that they are a narrative process of the human mind, a co-creator with the mind that imagines them.
>>42546344Ok, so yes. That was conditional tense. So anyway, how is all this paranormal. Why doesn't OP just come out and unleash upon us his super spooky theory instead of wasting our time?
>>42546405Past "tense" signalling unreality rather than backwards temporality, in many languages, but nobody knows why. Many philosophies claim the present moment is all that's real.
>>42546389I don't see how this has anything to do with past tense morphology being used to signal unreality rather than backwardsness in time.
Bump
>>42546459this isn't the case in german so I'm not bothered
>>42545091You couldn’t have this discussion in any other language*
>it's another angloswine thinks the world revolves around his language episode
>>42546267Nta but what they said makes sense to meThe past is not the present so the past signals a counterfactual through the idea of “not in the present” The factuality of the present and future cannot be known, except that the present is what it is, so it makes sense that the past tense would be used for that conveyance as opposed to the present, and instead of the future, which would also convey the information of “not now” but lacks the factuality of the past from our perspective
>>42549024I'm saying yeah something needs to be in the past for you to know whether it's factual or not. But that doesn't mean that it automatically is factual just because it's in the past. It can be either of the two; factual or nonfactual.
>>42546389cool post, swipin it for the tulpa/egregore threads
>>42548813>we don't do that in Germany
>>42545091You really thought you was deep. Jaden smith level here
>>42549614Absolute diomedes.
