----- Original Message ----- From: "Stathis Papaioannou" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Brent Meeker" <everything-list@googlegroups.com> Sent: Sunday, August 27, 2006 7:52 AM Subject: RE: Rép: ROADMAP (well, not yet really...
Brent Meeker writes: > > Saying that there is a material substrate which has certain properties is just a working > > assumption to facilitate thinking about the real world. It may turn out that if we dig into > > quarks very deeply there is nothing "substantial" there at all, but solid matter will still be > > solid matter, because it is defined by its properties, not by some mysterious raw physical > > substrate. > > But I don't think we ever have anything but "working assumptions"; so we might as > well call our best ones "real"; while keeping in mind we may have to change them. SP reply: "That's just what I meant. If you say, this is *not* just a working assumption, there is some definite, basic substance called reality over and above what we can observe, that is a metaphysical statement which can only be based on something akin to religious faith. Stathis Papaioannou" JM: Brent can call it anything he likes, as long as he does not consider it a "reality" and Stathis can call it anything he likes, as long as he does not considers it a "faith". I work with "narratives" - consider them working assumptions (hypotheses) with an open mind for getting contradictions and so changing their conditions. This prevents me from calling it "reality" and developing a "faith" in it, which (both) assign absolute truth to the idea(s) involved. John M --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
