Dear R. Allen,
A very pragmatic approach - what happens if you do take up the discourse in its history and pretend that you can understand Parmenides et al (even in Greek)?
What happens if I pretend we can understand each other?
Space/Time/Identity logic can account for the difficulties.
all the best in not being being
keith russell
OZ newcastle
>>> "R. Allan Reese" <[log in to unmask]> 09/11/03 02:19 AM >>>
A belated response due to problems with email locally.
Re: PHD-DESIGN Digest - 6 Sep 2003 to 7 Sep 2003 (#2003-198)
>>Klaus Krippendorff wrote,
"along this thread, aristotle is supposed to have put forth a law
saying that you can't contradict yourself. i consider this to be
correct but wonder if anyone knows the name of that law or has a
reference for me to check this out."
> Ken Friedman <[log in to unmask]> 09/06/03 05:18 AM
You are probably seeking Aristotle's principle of non-contradiction. It
appears somewhere in The Organon, but I am not sure where. He also
defends the law in The Metaphysics.
>From: Keith Russell <[log in to unmask]>
Just to add a bit of spice - it is Parmenides who gets stuck, in Plato,
with the three aspects of any statement about something which is claimed
to exist:
---------
This seemed to me a reference to the "Law of the Excluded Middle",
which I typed into google and the first reference it found was "Klaus
Krippendorff's Dictionary of Cybernetics" cited on
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/ASC/Kripp.html
The discussion also suggested (reminded?) me of the potential futility
of arguing from authorities (gurus, messiahs) long departed. What
Plato, Aristotle etc truly thought, or would have accepted if
challenged, is hard to infer from the written words that happen to
survive, especially when they are from a translation and taken out of
context. For example, does the law of the excluded middle apply to the
sub-atomic world? Can particles "be" and "not be" simultaneously?
Does our language describe or prescribe the world? Ancient Greek
philosophy may be a starting point, but is not necessarily the current
state of thought.
On the other hand, Ken Friedman also wrote, "Rather than stating that
someone CAN not contradict himself, Aristotle states that we MAY or
SHOULD not contradict ourselves if our statements are to be meaningful
or logical", and that seems a good motto for the Hutton inquiry.
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