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Article 4154 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: zeleny@zariski.harvard.edu (Mikhail Zeleny)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy,sci.philosophy.tech
Subject: Re: Definition of understanding
Message-ID: <1992Feb29.010514.9299@husc3.harvard.edu>
Date: 29 Feb 92 06:05:12 GMT
Article-I.D.: husc3.1992Feb29.010514.9299
References: <1992Feb28.064104.9265@husc3.harvard.edu> <1992Feb28.141539.25092@uwm.edu>
Organization: Dept. of Math, Harvard Univ.
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Nntp-Posting-Host: zariski.harvard.edu

In article <1992Feb28.141539.25092@uwm.edu> 
hiho@csd4.csd.uwm.edu writes:

>From article <1992Feb28.064104.9265@husc3.harvard.edu>, 
>by zeleny@brauer.harvard.edu (Mikhail Zeleny):

>>>>In article <1992Feb23.044200.29383@mp.cs.niu.edu> 
>>>>rickert@mp.cs.niu.edu (Neil Rickert) writes:

>[...]

MZ
>> No person => no mind => no understanding.

MP:
>Good lord.  I find myself agreeing with Mikhail in public.

I am shocked, Mark!  What's this world coming to?

MP:
>I'm afraid he's right Neil.  Personal identity won't conform the way
>you'd like it to.  

This is something I've been trying to convey for over three months now.
Rather surprising that Searle doesn't make it explicit in his answer.

MP:
>But good grief, doesn't anybody read *Hume* anymore?

Of course someone reads Hume!  On the other hand, someone also reads
Reid...  What's the bis deal about Hume, anyway?  Unless one agrees to tie
both hands behind one's back in accordance with the wishes of Locke and
Berkeley, Hume is not much of an obstacle.

What's there in Hume or, for that matter, Kant (not in originality or
quality, but in resistance to rationalism) that isn't already present in
Protagoras?

Your dog is yours.
Your dog is a father.
Therefore, your dog is your father, and its pups are your brothers.
Q.E.D.

By the way, just to give equal time to the other side, has anyone seen the
new apology of Protagoras by Margolis, "The Truth About Relativism"?

A puzzle: imagine a world containing nothing but a mirror and a statue
facing it.  (And a few photons to go around.)  Is there a reflection of 
the statue in the mirror?  Now suppose the statue opens its eyes...

>hiho
>-- 
>mark ce peterson   | uw-washington county  | hiho@csd4.csd.uwm.edu 
>dept of philosophy | west bend, wi.  53095 | (414) 335-5200        
>
>    "The shorter the tether, the sooner the goat starves."

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