Jack, (01)
> > > However, there is a strong argument for acting as if the realist
>>> ontology is correct. For example, it behooves me to believe that if
>>> I jump out of a 22-story building, I'm going to go splat and that
>>> will be the end of me. I think it's dangerous to believe that my
>>> going splat is some kind of social construction. Similarly for many
>>> other actionable consequences of the realist view.
>>
>>If I may ask: how did you come to that belief? (02)
I came to the belief about buildings via generalizing from concrete
experiences about other dangerous activities. Those experiences in
many cases did *not* involve interactions with other people. For
example, there has been more than one time when I burned myself by
spilling boiling water on myself and no one else was around. As
another example, when I was a teenager, I took a turn at too high a
speed, smashed a car against a lamp post and broke off my two front
teeth. There was no one with me at the time -- in fact, it was the
first time I ever had driven alone, having just received my license.
I would have died if I had not had my seat belt buckled, and I would
still have intact front teeth if my shoulder harness had been
fastened. (03)
Do you really believe that my burns and my broken-off front teeth are
social constructions? Do you really believe the deaths of people who
don't buckle their seat belts are social constructions? (04)
I will wager you don't behave as if you do! (05)
>Did you not pass through
> >some form of constructivism on the way? (06)
My drivers ed instructor told us we should buckle our seat belts.
When I was a kid, my dad wouldn't drive out of the driveway unless
all of us had our belts fastened. I will grant you that the notion
had been placed in my mind prior to my accident that not having my
seat belt buckled could cause me harm. Do you really think this
justifies the belief that deaths due to unbuckled seat belts are
social constructions? What exactly have you been smoking? (07)
At age two, daughter had no notions about boiling liquids planted in
her mind. She spilled boiling hot soup all over her body, causing
excruciating pain and necessitating a trip to the emergency room. At
the age of seventeen, she still has scars on her body and terrible
memories of that day. Do you really think that traumatic experience
was a social construction? I don't think you will find yourself a
popular person among parents who love their children if you say you
do. (08)
>It's clearly an act of social
>>constructivism to actually jump out of the building and observe your
>>going splat (09)
OK, I change my example. If boiling hot soup spills on a
two-year-old, she will experience agony. That is NOT a social
construction. It happened to my daughter when she was two, and it was
one of the worst experiences of both our lives. It happened in
reality. The real reality that actually exists. If you call it a
social construction, you are just plain wrong. (010)
Kathy (011)
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