At Wed, 20 Jan 1999 02:09:01 -0500, you wrote:
>
>At 08:50 PM 1/19/99 -0700, Frederick Mann wrote:
>
>>> So the question is: Is the photo an illusion?
>>> If yes, the collective entity is an illusion.
>>> If no, then the collective entity is real.
>>>
>>>Dick: The picture is actually in our perception, not on the paper.
>>>
>>>
>>Furthermore, there's a fundamental difference between
>>the dots on paper we perceive as a photo/picture and
>>the supposed "collection of humans" some call "society."
>>That difference lies in the largely fixed relationship
>>between the dots on one piece of paper, and the very
>>different kinds of "fluid" relationships (or lack of)
>>between the individual humans some claim constitute a
>>"society."
>
>
> IAN: Yet we can draw the same analogy with
> the "fluid" and non-fixed set of relations
> that is you by observing that you yourself
> are greater than the sum of your parts, as
> the sum total of the individual elements
> you're made of I've heard runs around $1.
>
> The ordering of individuals in a system
> creates a de facto collective entity, be
> that entity real or an illusion. The main
> actor in Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations"
> was in fact a collective entity that's
> widely know as "the invisible hand."
>
>
Doin't hoist the Randian neo-anarchists by their own laissez faire market mechanism petard too highly, Ian; you'll give 'em a wedgie! :~)
>**********************************************************
>Visit Ian Williams Goddard -----> http://Ian.Goddard.net
>__________________________________________________________
>
> "The more restrictions and prohibitions in the world,
> the poorer people get." Lao Tzu (Tao Te Ching)
>
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Joe E. Dees
Poet, Pagan, Philosopher