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I’ve been asked to paraphrase this sentence without changing the meaning:

  1. I won’t do it.

I’m confused as to which of these possible rewrites I should choose:

  1. I’m willing not to do it.
  2. I'm not willing to do it.

What about these possibilities?

  1. I’m willing to not do it.
  2. I’m unwilling to do it.
  3. I refuse to do it.
tchrist
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Tyy
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    The only way to keep the meaning is I will not do it or I refuse to do it. Not being willing to do something means, roughly, that you don't want to do it, not necessarily that you won't. – Tinfoil Hat Dec 10 '22 at 17:44

1 Answers1

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I'm willing not to do it.

means It's ok with me if it is necessary not to do it. I accept not to do it. I am not the agent of the refusal of doing it. I am just accepting someone else's refusal to do the action.

As for

I'm not willing to do it.

means 'I don't want to do it', I am the one refusing to do it.

So I won't do it could be paraphrased as I'm not willing to do it.

fev
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  • I don't buy that at all. Sort of like shifting it to "not accept to" versus "accept not to" by bringing in someone irrelevant. – G. Rem laughs at the MonicaC's Dec 10 '22 at 15:36
  • As far as I know when we negate modal auxilaries some of them just lay outside the 'scope of negation' so their meanings just remain positive. The same goes with will . Consequently, "I'm willing not to do it" seems the correct paraphrasing to " I won't do it". Correct me if I'm wrong. – Tyy Dec 10 '22 at 15:48
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    I disagree and I have explained how I understand it. To be willing means to be happy to do something if it is needed. So if it is needed, not because I don't want to, I am willing not to do it. I don't see how the negation can "lay outside the 'scope of negation". Being willing not to do something is not the same with being unwilling to do something. – fev Dec 10 '22 at 15:55
  • Explaining I'm not willing in terms of I don't want doesn't help, because the same questions can be raised about both. Does I don't want to do it mean (1) that I want not do it (or, as you put it, that I am refusing to do it) or merely (2) that I have no want to do it? In everyday conversations, people usually pay no attention to the difference between the two, and use such formulations for (1) rather than (2), but people who are trained in logic tend to 'hear' the difference and treat them as meaning (2), at least when communicating with those who are similarly trained. – jsw29 Dec 10 '22 at 17:07
  • "I don't think X" is different from "I think not X", in the sense that the former is about belief, but, the latter is about rigor, or determination. – G. Rem laughs at the MonicaC's Dec 10 '22 at 17:36