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Article 2744 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: silber@orfeo.Eng.Sun.COM (Eric Silber)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Is your ontology backwards?
Message-ID: <kn91r9INNcig@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM>
Date: 15 Jan 92 19:11:37 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mt. View, Ca.
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Is your ontology backwards? 

My small-minded recollection of the one Plato dialog which I was
compelled to read in my youth is of the ,,Meno'' .  My recollection of
it ( certainly distorted by time ) is of the philosopher abusing 
a boy with the following interchange:  "Well boy, what's the
square-root of two?" "I dunno." "Tell me, what is the square-root of two!!"
" Three, master?" "No! "  A hundred and ten, master?" "No!" .... ...
" One point four one four dot dot dot, master?" " AHAH! You had it in you
all the time ! "

Borscht! Plato's ontology is backwards!  Since, to the best of our knowledge,
the universe is a sequence of events in space-time involving the interaction of
waves/particles with discrete characterisitics deriving from the initial conditions
of the universe, matter-space-time (viz. the material world) takes ontological 
precedence over "ideas" , "abstractions", and "ideal forms".  To argue otherwise,
is to place one's ontological focus at a point before the origin of our universe.
(That would be a religious stance, not a scientific stance).


