"Death cannot not make ..."

[Odessa Dawn]

Death cannot not make our life important, can it?

Is there another way to put it well?

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

Death can make our life important, can't it?

 

[MikeNewYork]

That seems to have the opposite implication.

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

No, it doesn't.

'Death can make our life important, can't it?' is the opposite of, 'Death cannot make our life important, can it?' not 'Death cannot not make our life important, can it?'

 

[MikeNewYork]

I don't agree. The focus is on the statement, not the tag question. In BrE, one might use "innit" for a tag question for all three. :-D

 

[Matthew Wai]

Death cannot not make our life important

Death can make our life important

The meaning should remain unchanged when the double 'not' is omitted.
Am I right or wrong? Not a teacher.

 

[MikeNewYork]

In the first, the speaker posits that death cannot make our life important. In the second, the speaker posits that death can make our life important. I don't consider the tag questions to be dispositive about the intended meaning. In either case, the speaker could have posited either statement.

 

[Roman55]

The meaning should remain unchanged when the double 'not' is omitted.
Am I right or wrong?

I am not a teacher.

Yes, you are right Matthew.

The tag questions have nothing to do with it. You can leave them out entirely and it has no bearing on the OP's question.

 

[Matthew Wai]

In the first, the speaker posits that death cannot make our life important.

It seems that you ignore the word 'not' after 'cannot' in the OP's sentence.

Not a teacher.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I thought it was a typo.