On 5/4/07, Todd Allen <toddmallen(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Fully agreed there. We could write -an article- on the
speed of light
without ever numerically specifying that speed. We could write -an
article- on the United States without putting in its population as of
the last census. But while we could indeed write such articles, they
are not comprehensive or complete.
Your analogies are poor. An accurate analogy for this situation would
be, for example, an article on legal proceedings where the names of
some of the parties have been suppressed by the court. A perfectly
comprehensive article could be written about the legal proceedings
without the need to break the law and use the names.
--
Stephen Bain
stephen.bain(a)gmail.com