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okay Andy, I give; your argument is preferable to mine. -greg On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 9:27 PM, Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net> wrote: > Well I guess that would be a tautology, because "I like ..." is > unashyamedly subjective. But if you try to be objective and say "... is > preferable to .." then you need criteria. > Andy > > Greg Thompson wrote: > >> Andy, >> I like apples better than oranges. >> Seems like a tautology to say that "liking" is quantitative. What matters >> here is the practice of choosing apple over orange when presented with both >> options (and under certain conditions, e.g. when my body does not have a >> deficiency of Vitamin C...). >> >> David Ki, >> >> Alfred Korzybski, the founder of General Semantics, used to say that we >> need to get beyond our tendency to two-valued orientations that rely on the >> Aristotelian Law of the excluded middle that says that a thing is either A >> or not A. Korzybski says that the tendency that we have to think in terms >> of two-valued orientation leads to very serious problems when we encounter >> the world. Instead he proposes a many-valued orientation. (and one of his >> favorite examples was the classic hot-cold water example, but introducing a >> third bucket of luke warm and into which the child places his hands after >> putting one in hot and one in cold and at which point he cannot say whether >> the luke warm water is hot or cold). So David Ki, you suggest two is better >> than one, but why stop at two? And why not recognize that all of these >> quantities are only as they appear "to me," and, at best, "to us"? >> >> -greg >> >> On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 6:56 PM, Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net <mailto: >> ablunden@mira.net>> wrote: >> >> Yes, and in fact if we were to introduce vector quantities into >> the discussion we see that Quantity, in the strict Hegelian sense, >> is not limited to integers or even numbers. Quantity is something >> abstracted from a perceptual field which may vary without the >> object from which it is abstracted becoming something different. >> (The old thing about transformation of quantity into quality and >> vice versa). >> >> So it is fine to compare two entities by means of a bundle of >> numbers. But of course if you do that you don't get to "more" or >> "less". So the notion of "progress" does imply a single attribute >> type of abstraction. Characterising a complex entity like an >> entire form of life by a single attribute is as far from concrete >> thinking as it is possible to get. I'll go for concrete thinking I >> think. >> >> Andy >> (Why don't elephants drive a Porsche?) >> >> >> David H Kirshner wrote: >> >> The literature on understanding of integers notes a developmental >> difference between a "two-attribute" and "single-attribute" >> interpretation of negative number. Consider a child who places >> one hand >> in a bucket of ice cold water and the other in a bucket of hot >> water, >> and is asked "which bucket has warmer water?" The "two-attribute" >> approach is characterized by dichotomous thinking, as in the >> bewildered >> response, "This water isn't warm at all, it's cold!" As a >> later stage of >> development hot and cold are realized as poles of a single >> dimension. >> Seems like both of these perceptual frames are >> phenomenologically valid. >> Maybe you're arguing from different frames. >> David >> >> Davis, R. B. & Maher, C. A. (1993). The reality of negative >> numbers. In >> R. B. Davis & C. A. Maher (Eds.), Schools, mathematics, and >> the world of >> reality (pp. 51-60). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. >> >> >> >> >> ______________________________**____________ >> _____ >> xmca mailing list >> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu <mailto:xmca@weber.ucsd.edu> >> >> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/**listinfo/xmca<http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> Gregory A. Thompson, Ph.D. >> Sanford I. Berman Post-Doctoral Scholar >> Department of Communication >> University of California, San Diego >> >> > -- > ------------------------------**------------------------------** > ------------ > *Andy Blunden* > Joint Editor MCA: http://www.tandfonline.com/**toc/hmca20/18/1<http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/hmca20/18/1> > Home Page: http://home.mira.net/~andy/ > Book: http://www.brill.nl/default.**aspx?partid=227&pid=34857<http://www.brill.nl/default.aspx?partid=227&pid=34857> > > -- Gregory A. Thompson, Ph.D. Sanford I. Berman Post-Doctoral Scholar Department of Communication University of California, San Diego __________________________________________ _____ xmca mailing list xmca@weber.ucsd.edu http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca