On Thu, May 24, 2012 14:27, matthew lange wrote:
> ...
> Here again are some examples of facts, I would be delighted if someone
> would attempt to bound factual knowledge so that they could be
> quantified--or otherwise provide *succinct *reasons about why my
> examples are not facts.
> Fact examples:
>
> 1. The earth revolves around the sun. (01)
Each individual atom in/on/of the earth revolves around each individual
atomic nucleus of the sun.
Each conjoined set of atoms in/on/of the earth revolves around each
individual atomic nucleus of the sun.
[How many facts are we up to now if each of the above is expanded?] (02)
> 2. The Greek letter Pi represents the irrational number that is the
> ratio between a circle's circumference and diameter. (03)
... to a certain set of people. And to any non-empty subset of that set. (04)
> 3. A calorie is the amount of energy it takes to raise the temperature
> of 1cc of water 1 deg. C at sea level. (05)
This seems like a definition of a term, not a fact (and a non-standard
definition at that, not mentioning initial temperature or pressure). If it
were a fact, then it would encompass a fact for each cc of water. (06)
> 4. Chemical X contains Y calories of available energy. (of course
> substituting where appropriate) (07)
Do you mean a specific mass of Chemical X ? There are certainly a large
number of ways to pick an amount of Chemical X of that mass. (08)
> Are these not facts? Are they not countable? (09)
If the universe has a finite amount of Chemical X, then 4) encompasses
a finite number of facts. We've left a google in the dust a long
time ago. (010)
They are countable in that they are not infinite. (011)
> Again, aside from bending the space-time continuum, or dismissing laws of
> nature like thermodynamics...I fail to see the need for relativism
> here...or, what am I missing? If you agree that these are facts, then
> let's get pragmatic and enumerate the properties/boundaries
> around the nature of a fact. (012)
This is a very different issue than counting the near infinitude of facts in
a quantized finite universe. (013)
-- doug f (014)
> ...
>
> Best,
>
> ~mc
> (015)
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