Re: SUO: Metaphysical choices - position. mereology and constituti on
Chris, Jean-Luc, and Jay,
Jay Halcomb has restated my primary objection to having any single
upper level that is given the status of a "standard". Waismann's
notion of "open texture", which Jay quoted, is a very clear
statement of the problem:
Take any material object statement. The terms which occur in it are
nonexhaustive; that means that we cannot foresee completely all
possible conditions in which they are used... and that means that we
cannot foresee completely all the possible circumstances in which
the statement is true or in which it is false.
At the end of this note is one of my slides from a recent talk, in which
I give examples of Waismann's principle. These examples are taken from
simple concepts in everyday life, but they can be multiplied endlessly
for any and every subject you can name -- the only exception is for
the artificial concepts of mathematics, which are true by definition.
These are the reasons why concept meanings "drift". One of my common
examples is "automobile", which around 1900 was synonymous with
"horseless carriage". Today, the same word is applied to metal boxes
that contain more computing power than computer mainframes of just
20 years ago. Any attempt to freeze the definitions at one point in
time is destined for failure.
John Sowa
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ASPECTS OF KNOWLEDGE SOUP
* Overgeneralizations: Birds fly.
But what about penguins? A day-old chick? A bird with a broken
wing? A stuffed bird? A sleeping bird? A bird in a cage?
* Abnormal conditions: If you have a car, you can drive from
New York to Boston.
But what if the battery is dead? Your license has expired?
There is a major snowstorm?
* Incomplete definitions: An oil well is a hole drilled in the
ground that produces oil.
But what about a dry hole? A hole that has been capped? A hole
that used to produce oil? Are three holes linked to a single
pipe one oil well or three?
* Conflicting defaults: Quakers are pacifists, and Republicans
are not.
But what about Richard Nixon, who was both a Quaker and
a Republican? Was he or was he not a pacifist?
* Unanticipated applications: The parts of the human body are
described in anatomy books.
But is hair a part of the body? Hair implants? A wig? A wig
made from a person's own hair? A hair in a braid that has
broken off from its root? Fingernails? Plastic fingernail
extender? A skin graft? Artificial skin used for emergency
patches? A band-aid? A bone implant? An artificial implant
in a bone? A heart transplant? An artificial heart? An
artificial leg? Teeth? Fillings in the teeth? A porcelain
crown? False teeth? Braces? A corneal transplant? Contact
lenses? Eyeglasses? A tattoo? Make-up? Clothes?