From: Harold R. Holmyard III (hholmyard@ont.com)
Date: Mon Dec 11 2000 - 18:39:59 EST
Dear Aaron,
You asked
>><< My question: Am I correct in believing that PAS doesn't have to mean all
>>men who've ever existed, but instead can mean "some of every kind" or a
>>particular subset of "all" or something like that. >>
Steve replied:
>There is no justification for understanding PAS to mean "some," nor as some
>"subset of 'all.'"
I do not think that anyone was recommending that you translate PAS as
"some." Your earlier message spoke of people claiming that PAS must mean
every person or thing in the category named, without qualification. At
least that is what I understood you to be saying.
I gather that this issue arose in a theological context, and I am familiar
with such contexts. My experience debating with people who hold a reduced
meaning of "all" is that they have many texts where the context demands
that the referent for "all" be less than universal. That is, the text may
say "all men," but the context defines what "all men" means in such a way
as to limit "all men" to a select group of men.
This is all I meant when I said that you, Aaron, were correct and that
context must guide.
Yours,
Harold Holmyard
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