The operation of replacing ''X'' by (''X'' → '''B''') in a type schema corresponds to a certain shift of attitude towards the space ''X'', in which one passes from a focus on the ostensibly individual elements of ''X'' to a concern with the states of information and uncertainty that one possesses about objects and situations in ''X''. The conceptual obstacles in the path of this transition can be smoothed over by using singular functions (''X'' <font face=symbol>'''××>'''</font> '''B''') as stepping stones. First of all, it's an easy step from an element ''x'' of type '''B'''<sup>''n''</sup> to the equivalent information of a singular proposition ''x'' : ''X'' <font face=symbol>'''××>'''</font> '''B''', and then only a small jump of generalization remains to reach the type of an arbitrary proposition ''f'' : ''X'' → '''B''', perhaps understood to indicate a relaxed constraint on the singularity of points or a neighborhood circumscribing the original ''x''. I have frequently discovered this to be a useful transformation, communicating between the ''objective'' and the ''intentional'' perspectives, in spite perhaps of the open objection that this distinction is transient in the mean time and ultimately superficial. | The operation of replacing ''X'' by (''X'' → '''B''') in a type schema corresponds to a certain shift of attitude towards the space ''X'', in which one passes from a focus on the ostensibly individual elements of ''X'' to a concern with the states of information and uncertainty that one possesses about objects and situations in ''X''. The conceptual obstacles in the path of this transition can be smoothed over by using singular functions (''X'' <font face=symbol>'''××>'''</font> '''B''') as stepping stones. First of all, it's an easy step from an element ''x'' of type '''B'''<sup>''n''</sup> to the equivalent information of a singular proposition ''x'' : ''X'' <font face=symbol>'''××>'''</font> '''B''', and then only a small jump of generalization remains to reach the type of an arbitrary proposition ''f'' : ''X'' → '''B''', perhaps understood to indicate a relaxed constraint on the singularity of points or a neighborhood circumscribing the original ''x''. I have frequently discovered this to be a useful transformation, communicating between the ''objective'' and the ''intentional'' perspectives, in spite perhaps of the open objection that this distinction is transient in the mean time and ultimately superficial. |