From: David G. McDivitt (dmcdivitt@yahoo.com)
Date: Sun Aug 26 2001 - 10:37:09 MDT
Non realists are divided from realists by what each takes for granted,
only. It is much, much more than simple semantics. But I guess a realist
who has the relentless and ongoing quest to repair semantics is better
than one who does not.
>From: "Lee Corbin" <lcorbin@tsoft.com>
>Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2001 01:07:43 -0700
>
>Probably the nominalists are divided from us realists mostly by
>terminological disagreements. I will argue that some of the
>nominalist sentences above are nearly incoherant. Take "Isn't a
>fact just what you, or me, or someone has chosen to be significant?"
>
>Well, what is a "someone"? Is there a fact of the matter? In your
>coordinate system, it appears that the following are fundamental:
>
> * people
> * will
> * significance
> * argument
> * context
> * thought
>
>while realists regard "rocks", "trees", "people", etc., as fundamental.
>Moreover, in our "web of belief", we can account for a great deal of
>what happens in our world (to you, "in our model of the world") by
>evolution. What really bugs you about calling "some birds can fly"
>a fact?
>
>Our epistemology is also in accordance with natural learning
>among primates: babies are wired to recognize objects, numbers,
>and faces, and they build up their higher order abstractions
>(e.g., "thought", "context", "argument") on the backs of the
>lower order abstractions only after many years of familiarity
>with the latter.
>
>> When you tell me what reality is, or is supposed to be, you are
>> attempting to dictate to me what things to find significant and
>> disregard.
>
>No (especially on this list) we defend your right to make as
>many errors as you like. It's just that some things, e.g.,
>"the sun won't rise tomorrow" is erroneous. If you want to
>take a correction as an attempt to control your thinking,
>then you are being way too closeminded.
>
>Lee Corbin
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