You are quite right. I think Rand had a real talent for high-level abstract reasoning.
She also enraged many people with her "selfish" philosophy. She could have picked
a more neutral, unemotional term. But she chose her words very carefully.
From: bruceschuman@xxxxxxx
To: ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 19:13:43 -0700
Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] FW: mKR2IKL
Just a tiny observation -- but this discussion of Ayn Rand reminded me that
eminent programmer Grady Booch cites Ayn Rand's Introduction to Objectivist
Epistemology in his 1991 book Object Oriented Design with Applications -- a
text I found quite illuminating, not only for its comprehensive review of
the philosophy and conceptual theory behind programming, but also for its
entertaining illustrations.
Rand's idea of "abstraction" involves what she calls "measurement omission"
-- as levels of abstraction increase, specific measurements are omitted.
I'd say she figured this stuff out before the days of computer science, when
the subject was still pretty blurry. Since those days, highly motivated and
very precise people have taken a very close and testable look at these
issues.
But it helps to keep the broad intuitive picture in mind. The big challenge
in thinking about these things is to be broadly inclusive AND precise -- and
I'm guessing that it was her intuition that Booch found interesting.
Needless to say, Booch also cites Conceptual Structures...
Bruce Schuman
NETWORK NATION: http://networknation.net
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-----Original Message-----
From: ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of John F Sowa
Sent: Monday, March 31, 2014 6:15 PM
To: ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] FW: mKR2IKL
Dick,
In mathematics (and mathematical logic), symbols have exactly the same
meaning at each occurrence, and there are systematic rules for relating the
symbols to one another. The following examples show that the symbols have
no fixed meaning, and there are no rules for doing anything whatsoever with
them.
> Rand:
> Consciousness :: I am conscious.
> and then she goes on for many pages explaining how there is a subject
> and object of conscious awareness, and how perceptions are automatic.
For the first line, "consciousness" and "I am conscious"
are two very different, but related expressions. What does the symbol '::'
mean? How does it relate the two sides?
> Rand:
> Existence :: Existence exists.
> Rand says this is the only way to describe this axiomatic concept in a
> proposition. She spends many pages describing various aspects of
> existents.
The two sides of '::' in this example are related in a totally different way
from the two sides above. Either Rand is being very sloppy with her
notation, or you didn't quote her exactly.
> mKR:
> Existence :: entity, characteristic, proposition isa existent;
This is yet a third way of using the symbol '::'. Either Rand is being
sloppy, you are being sloppy, or neither of you has a clue about how to
reason precisely.
> I summarize the many pages where
> she talks about the identities of entities (and existents) with
> Identity :: existent has characteristic;
This is a fourth way of using the symbol '::'.
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