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Re: [ontolog-forum] Is Philosophy Useful in Software Engineering Ontolog

To: "'[ontolog-forum] '" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: "Rich Cooper" <metasemantics@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 4 Jul 2015 20:31:40 -0700
Message-id: <057301d0b6d3$1bd84f60$5388ee20$@com>

Dear John,

 

You wrote:

Rich

> I have no proof we inhabit different worlds, and I don't necessarily

> believe we do. But I also have no evidence that we inhabit the same world.

 

Red flags!!!  Crap detector on high alert!

 

Everybody on planet earth inhabits the same planet.  To say that we don't is either (a) a metaphor or (b) blatantly false.

 

Of course it's a metaphor, John!  "World" is used in the sense of what it is that two people sense differently, and effect differently.  And I certainly don't see the word "planet" as a good synonym for "world" in that phrase.  So you jumped off on a tangent you didn't explain or justify. 

 

But the point is, how would we know if we are truly looking at the *same world*, or at the *same system*, the *same problem*, the *same project*, whatever you like to call your plans, if you use them? 

 

How could you tell?

 

Sincerely,

Rich Cooper,

Rich Cooper,

 

Chief Technology Officer,

MetaSemantics Corporation

MetaSemantics AT EnglishLogicKernel DOT com

( 9 4 9 ) 5 2 5-5 7 1 2

http://www.EnglishLogicKernel.com

 

-----Original Message-----
From: ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of John F Sowa
Sent: Saturday, July 04, 2015 2:51 PM
To: ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] Is Philosophy Useful in Software Engineering Ontologies?

 

Tom, Rich, Matthew, and Bruce,

 

The point I was trying to make is that good philosophy can be useful in providing guidelines and in eliminating the huge amount of crap that gives philosophy a bad name.

 

Tom

> I'd appreciate some clarification of X1's comment, which John quotes.

 

X1's comment is crap.  No clarification is possible or useful.

I should have deleted his quotation because it just muddies the waters.

 

What I was trying to say is that Peirce's pragmatism and fallibilism provide criteria for detecting and throwing away the crap.

 

Rich

> I have no proof we inhabit different worlds, and I don't necessarily

> believe we do. But I also have no evidence that we inhabit the same world.

 

Red flags!!!  Crap detector on high alert!

 

Everybody on planet earth inhabits the same planet.  To say that we don't is either (a) a metaphor or (b) blatantly false.

 

As Peirce said, if you want to understand a concept, look at the effects.  How is it related to what people see and do?

 

RC

> Here is a video on the Multiverse - multiple simultaneous universes:

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUW7patpm9s

 

Matthew

> Multiverses is just a Possible Worlds set up from a physics

> perspective. It does not suggest that we are in different universes,

> just that all possible universes are a physical reality somewhere

 

Yes.  When a metaphor is creating more confusion than enlightenment, it's time to drop the metaphor.

 

That video showed fish swimming in a restricted environment.

Then it used the words 'world' and 'universe' to describe what they see.  That jump from fish under water to astronomers who use telescopes and abstract theories is hopelessly misleading.

 

Rich

> Many republicans seem to view freedom and property rights very highly,

> and consider that the way that the poor can grow with all of us is

> best expressed in the free market...

 

Bruce

> Is a political issue (e.g. same-sex marriage) “part of the world”?

 

This is another example where words are being used in very different ways.  To clarify the issues, get rid of the metaphors and the abstract terminology.  Look at what people actually do.

 

Whose freedom are we talking about?  The freedom for the CEO to pollute the environment?  Or the freedom of the citizens to breathe clean air and drink uncontaminated water?

 

Whose property are we talking about?  The cost of the factory?

Or the cost of the homes in the neighborhood with dioxins, mercury, or hexavalent chromium in the land?  Or the cost of the health care (or deaths) for the people who live there?

 

Are we talking about the freedom of the toy manufacturers and Walmart to save 1 cent per toy by putting poisons in the plasticizer?  Or the freedom of the parents to buy toys without poisons in them?

 

This is not a hypothetical example.  The Chinese manufacturers make the toys on the same assembly line.  The only difference is that they ship the poisoned versions to the USA and the clean versions to Europe.

Who should have the freedom to decide?  Walmart?  Or the parents?

 

And what do you mean by free market?  The Republicans wrote the laws that require the DoD to get the lowest discounted price on every item.

But they forced Medicare to pay *list price* for every drug.  That enables the pharmaceutical companies to set an inflated list price and pay a huge *bribe* (AKA "loyalty discount") to the physicians who prescribe the drugs.

 

I treasure my freedom.  And I want everybody -- including CEOs -- to have the same amount of freedom that I have -- and no more.

 

John

 

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