>...Take for example that old naive physics stuff I
>did. I started wanting to talk about how liquids
>can be contained in spaces, what it meant to be
>wet, and so on. In order to do that I had to
>introduce a lot of other things, like directed
>surfaces (the thin 'film' of free space on one
>side of a surface which is where the water is
>when the surface is wet) and two kinds of liquid
>object with different identity conditions, and a
>vertical falling piece of liquid, etc. etc.. Now,
>is this metaphysics? (01)
I would say so, if you are serious about --- (02)
>... They are
>all things which I can say with a straight face
>exist in the actual world... (03)
I agree with this only if we insert a "for all practical purposes
(FAPP)" caveat. (04)
To be very precise, though, I would have to say I believe there
actually are observable effects in the real world that are described
to excellent approximation by speaking as if things like directed
surfaces and vertical falling pieces of liquid actually exist. (05)
(Got that???) (06)
Maybe that's what you mean when you say directed surfaces and falling
pieces of liquid really exist. (07)
The problem is, if you try to put together a logically consistent
description of all the things you'd want to say really exist, you
rapidly get into a tangle. In fact, the attempt to do so drove
physicists from naive physics to Newton's laws to quantum theory and
general relativity, which still have not been reconciled with each
other. Nevertheless, for purposes of practical ontology-building,
I'm all for declaring that these things exist (in the FAPP sense) and
moving forward. (08)
>...>Regarding use/mention. (09)
I can't resist an amusing anecdote -- I remember my daughter Allison
at age three telling me, "I start with 'A'". (010)
K (011)
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