From Greg Williams (930617)
Bill Powers (930616.1230 MDT)
[Oded Maler:]
I mean entities like the US, the scientific community, the
belief in a single god/theory, the white race, communism, etc.
So do I. These are ideas in people's heads. They have no
objective existence. To make them exist, you have to get people
to AGREE that they exist -- i.e., individually believe it. As
soon as everyone stops agreeing that they exist, they disappear.
That makes them quite different things from what we mean by "the
planet Mars" and "peanut butter."
And, presumably, from "snow" -- but some eskimos believe in several kinds
of snow. Wait a minute. I think you are being inconsistent here.
Have you given up on the notion that "it's ALL perception"? Don't
you think "peanut butter" would disappear, too, if everyone decided
that it was better to speak of, say, five "fineness grades" of "chopped
peanuts"? If you don't, I think you are apparently smuggling in the
worst sort of naive realism: whatever YOU think is independent of
belief IS independent of belief.
As ever,
Greg