>Yes, many of our inanimate "friends" seem to have qualities that don't
>reduce to the standard explanations. In part this shows our lack of
>understanding about the states they get into as complex mechanisms along
>with what seems to be the human bias to see agency in our universe. (01)
Dennett has a very nice term for this, the
"intentional stance". Sometimes, one gets the
best predictions about some piece of the natural
world by attributing agency to it; by adopting
the intentional stance towards it. And of course
we do this to one another. So, is this
attribution of intentionality *true*? Is it
veridical? Perhaps if we knew enough about one
another's biological make-up, we would not need
to adopt the intentional stance towards the other
person. Some people in long-standing marriages
seem to have achieved this state regarding their
spouses, as when my wife finishes my sentences
for me. Nevertheless, Dennett's position is - and
I agree with him - that the possibility of such
an eliminative reduction does not show that the
attribution of intentionality is necessarily
false, any more than the fact that wood is made
of carbohydrates makes it false to say that my
desk is made of wood. So while we may often -
perhaps always - adopt this stance because we are
ignorant of the underlying (aka "real")
mechanisms, intentional language can still be
true, in some cases. A gap between a theory and
(the world described by) physics need not imply a
gap between that theory and reality. (02)
Pat (03)
>
>As I said in another context, at times it humbling to think how far the
>gap is between reality and our formulations of it, but I balance this
>with a sense of progress being made despite the sometimes erratic
>pattern.
>
>
>Gary Berg-Cross, Ph.D.
>Spatial Ontology Community of Practice (SOCoP)
>http://www.visualknowledge.com/wiki/socop
>Executive Secretariat
>Semantic Technology
>EM&I
>Suite 350 455 Spring park Place
>Herndon VA 20170
>703-742-0585
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>[mailto:ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Kathryn
>Blackmond Laskey
>Sent: Friday, August 03, 2007 8:59 AM
>To: [ontolog-forum]
>Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] Car attitudes
>
>Some years ago, we owned a white Plymouth Voyager minivan. It had an
>attitude!
>
>There was something funny with the electrical system of that car.
>Every once in a while, the wipers would decide for no apparent reason
>to do a couple of swipes. The kids would say: "It's waving at us!"
>Sometimes its door-open sensors would trip, even though all the doors
>were shut tight. This would trigger the lights to flash on and off
>in warning, a bell tone to sound, and the already-locked doors to
>lock themselves again with a loud click.
>
>As the car got older and more crotchety, these things would happen
>more and more often. Occasionally, a drive down the highway would be
>punctuated with a near-constant sequence of wiper-waves,
>light-flashes, bell-tones, and lock-clicks. We used to wonder what
>we had done to offend the vehicle. We decided maybe we should stop
>talking in its presence about how worn-out it was getting and whether
>it was time to get a new car.
>
>We managed to nurse that car to 100,000 miles. It did long service to
>our family. The older two children learned to drive on it, and it
>became their car. When it reached 999,995 miles, we took it out for
>a spin. The whole family drove to the nearby Target, and took a
>couple of swings around the parking lot with everyone looking over my
>husband's shoulder to watch the odometer click over to 100,000. Then
>we drove it home, parked it on the street, and called the Salvation
>Army to come and get it.
>
>Kathy
>
>At 8:20 AM -0400 8/3/07, John F. Sowa wrote:
>>Gary,
>>
>> > I could a surface analysis of this and come up with a possible
>> > set of car attitudes. But based on others things that I think
>> > I know I'm probably not on safe grounds making these "attitudes"
> > > a set reflecting what's in the physical universe.
>>
>>When you're talking with a philosopher or a knowledge engineer,
>>you are not on safe grounds with any assumption.
>>
>>For evidence, look at the archive of this forum.
>>
>>John
>>
>>
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