"Devine, James" wrote: > > Ali writes: > > FOR THE SUBJECT MATTER, OF ECONOMICS THE FUTURE > > DETERMINES THE PRESENT (people plans determine what > > they do now)? FOR PHYSICS THE PRESENT DETERMINES THE > > FUTURE (where the particle is at present determi,es > > where it is going to be in the future? > > it's only _expectations_ of the future that determine the present and those > expectations are based on past events (including those of a minute ago). > JD
Carrol writes, > I think Jim's take is too narrowly "economic." Ali's version works > better if taken at a higher level of abstraction -- and over greater > historical time. Operating from the taxonomy of 'states' offered in > Plato's _Republic_, try asking the question, "What is the temporal > location of the _meaning_ or _reality_ (as opposed to appearance) of an > act. Plato categorizes states "psychologically," i.e. in terms of the > structure of motives that characterize them. Then, very roughly: <SNIP> Well, I vote for Jim's version. Whether a "man" is aristocratic, oligarchic or democratic, in his decisions regarding what to do now, it is his expectations of the future, which depends on his past and present, that "partially" determines his choice. That he is aristocratic or oligarchic or democratic is not only one defining property of his current state but also one of the factors that determine how he forms his expectations. Of course, he then solves a dynamic programming problem and chooses that state of the future with the largest utility. Best, Sabri
