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>From: zeleny@zariski.harvard.edu (Mikhail Zeleny)
Newsgroups: sci.philosophy.tech,comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: ''...distinction between a material object "r
Message-ID: <1992Mar28.211255.10399@husc3.harvard.edu>
Date: 29 Mar 92 02:12:54 GMT
Article-I.D.: husc3.1992Mar28.211255.10399
References: <45426@dime.cs.umass.edu> <1992Mar28.092723.10365@husc3.harvard.edu> <kta5i4INN9iq@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM>
Organization: Dept. of Math, Harvard Univ.
Lines: 45
Nntp-Posting-Host: zariski.harvard.edu

In article <kta5i4INN9iq@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> 
silber@orfeo.Eng.Sun.COM (Eric Silber) writes:

>In article <1992Mar28.092723.10365@husc3.harvard.edu> 
>zeleny@zariski.harvard.edu (Mikhail Zeleny) writes:

MZ:
>>    [...]                             My original point had to do with the
>>well-known, demonstrable lack of a sound theoretical distinction between a
>             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>material object "responding" to input by "producing" output, and another
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>medium-sized piece of dry goods "just sitting there".  This, to me, is the
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>crucial turning point of Putnam's argument. ...

ES:
> Here is a distinction:
>
> I.
> ---- incident photon (input) --->[an excitable atom (material object)]---|
>                                                                          |
>                                                                          |
>                            <----(output)stimulated radiation-------------
>
>II.
>  here is the ''medium-sized piece of dry goods "just sitting there" '':
>
>           Atom named 'Joe' sitting around in a crystal lattice

Very nice, but elementary particles lack individual identities, -- how
could you name a mere aggregate of such "things" anything at all?  Try it
on the macro level, as requested.

`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'
: Qu'est-ce qui est bien?  Qu'est-ce qui est laid?         Harvard   :
: Qu'est-ce qui est grand, fort, faible...                 doesn't   :
: Connais pas! Connais pas!                                 think    :
:                                                             so     :
: Mikhail Zeleny                                                     :
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