On 1 Dec 2010 at 13:59, Nicholas Thompson wrote: > PICKY PICKY PICKY! > > OK, then: How does hamlet know how > an angel acts or how god apprehends?
*A* god. All the evidence suggests that different gods apprehend in different ways. ...Actually, the god question is hard. But "how does hamlet know how an angel acts?" How do you or I (or even any EEs or physicists on this list) know how an electron acts? A pattern or patterns is or are detected among the phenomena we perceive, a theory is developed which explains them and from which predictions of hitherto undetected patterns can be deduced, and so the hermeneutic circle rolls merrily on its way. Precisely *because* Hamlet posits that angels *do* act upon the physical world of his perception (okay, I'm reading more into "in action" than may be fully justified), he has at least a fighting chance of determining *how* they act (including, how if at all they act differently than electrons, goslings, or rubber boots, and whether positing that certain [patterns of] phenomena are the actions of angels--rather than of rubber boots, goslings, or electrons--is actually justifiable). ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
