Re: SUO: Universal Time, other universals, and cultural contextof SUO.
Pat,
I sympathize with your concerns:
> My deep conviction is exactly the opposite. If the SUO reflects any
> linguistic bias then it will be the less useful for it, which is one
> reason why NL intuitions should be avoided, or at any rate treated
> skeptically.
However, I believe that the only thing worse than a half-baked
intuition is no intuition at all (which seems to happen with many
mathematicians who plunge into formalization without a clue about
what they are formalizing).
My opinion about NL intuitions:
1. NL is probably as good a source of worthy hypotheses as anything
else, but every hypothesis should be treated with skepticism.
2. Although a lot of amateurs have indeed said a lot nonsense about
NL, they have also said at least as much nonsense about everything
else.
3. All intuitions from any source should be treated skeptically --
even when and, perhaps, especially when they are your own.
Bottom line: Science must always start with hypotheses, and
intuitions are the typical source, but all of them should be
treated with skepticism. NL is as good or as bad a source as
any other.
John Sowa