You hid behind the type/token distinction when I originally asked you this question, and now you're doing it again. Let me get this straight: the "multitude of possible meanings" that the word "sensation" has in Wittgenstein's scenario are that "sensation" means "type" or "sensation" means "token"? — Luke
Again: what are the multitude of meanings that the word "sensation" has in the scenario? Name two possible meanings, at least. — Luke
I think you would prefer to talk about "similar" instead of "the same" (or attempt to conflate the two) because you have no reason to judge two things as being the same except that they are of they same type. It's much easier to argue that you don't need a reason or principle to judge two things as being similar than it is to judge them as being the same. There must be a reason why you judge two things as the same and not merely similar. — Luke
There you go again. They're not similar; they're the same. What makes them the same is that they are both of the same type; they're both dogs. — Luke
Yes. Seen to be good, brought into existence, caused to be, etc. by the same one Reality that acts as efficient, material, formal, and final causes. There is nothing else apart from that one Reality. Referring to the One as “formal cause” does not preclude the possibility of its being the other causes, including the ultimate cause. — Apollodorus
The journey has six stages:
1. Love of one beautiful body.
2. Love of all beautiful bodies.
3. Love of beauty in souls.
4. Love of beauty in institutions and laws.
5. Love of beauty in sciences.
6. Love of beauty in one single knowledge. — Apollodorus
However, it is important to understand that the Greek word “beautiful” (kalos) also means “good”. The Greek ideal of human perfection is “good and beautiful” or, rather “beautiful and good” (kaloskagathos). Beauty is inseparably connected with Good and Good is inseparably connected with Knowledge. Beauty leads to the Good and the Good is Knowledge or Truth. — Apollodorus
And Knowledge has the Good as its source (as has Beauty). — Apollodorus
Contemplation or knowledge of Beauty itself enables the accomplished philosopher to know the Good. And knowing the Good itself in the absolute sense means being the Good. By being good as much as humanly possible, the philosopher “touches” or “grasps” the truth (cf. Timaeus 90c). He becomes good, real, and true, and everything he does from now on is by participation in the truth which is the Good. — Apollodorus
This happiness that derives from our own goodness is more direct, more powerful, and more real than happiness that is derived from any external things (i.e. things other than ourselves) such as material possessions. — Apollodorus
When Plato says that the Good is the “source of all knowledge”, or “above essence”, etc., this cannot be taken to mean that the Good is above the One, given that the One is not knowledge but pure, objectless Awareness, and as we have seen, the One is unlimited, without beginning or end, and without it nothing can exist (Parm. 137d, 166c). — Apollodorus
This is also evident from the fact that One and Being are inseparable and that everything that has being participates in both Being and One, which includes all the Forms, even the Form of the Good. — Apollodorus
That infinite mass of luminous awareness must first become aware of itself. This is what produces the first subject-object dichotomy, or the One and the Dyad, where subject and object are experienced as one yet “distinct”. — Apollodorus
We've been through this for weeks with your type/token distinction. You argued "the sensation" refers to a type, I argued it refers to a token. You simply refuse to accept that it could possibly refer to anything other than a type, so you do not see the ambiguity. But you ignore the obvious, "the..." almost always refers to a particular, and rarely, if ever, is used to refer to a type. That's why I say, you just don't get it.I'll ask you a third time: name the "multitude of possible meanings" that you think the word "sensation" has in Wittgenstein's scenario. — Luke
Since you have a thing for principles, perhaps you could explain by what principle you judge two things to be the same? — Luke
You are claiming both that the meaning of "sensation" is ambiguous and "may be interpreted in numerous different ways", but also that "there is no such thing as what the word means in that context". — Luke
It cannot be both that "sensation" has more than one possible meaning in context and that it has no possible meaning in context. — Luke
We are not discussing "similar"; we are discussing "the same" — Luke
Gotta hand it to you, too, Meta, your grasp of logic is quite disconcerting. — Banno
I didn't realize this until now of course but I think we need to dig deeper into irrational numbers. What are they? Does it have to do with the continuous as opposed to discrete nature of reality? Geometry seems, in a certain sense, more physical than arithmetic. I'm not as certain about this as I'd like to be. — TheMadFool
Now that means that necessity and possibility are different ways of saying the very same thing. — Banno
I'm not asking about "the same" sensation or types and tokens here. I asked you what you think "sensation" means in Wittgenstein's scenario. How do you think the word "sensation" is being used there? — Luke
This is only to repeat that you don't know how he is using the word. — Luke
You claim to understand the point of the scenario yet you don't understand his use of words? — Luke
The same in what respect? — Luke
I'm not claiming that when we learn a language we are explicitly taught about types and tokens. — Luke
No, that's exactly what I don't understand: how two distinct things can be classed as "the same" without being the same type. — Luke
How do you know, when you claim not to know what the word "sensation" means here? — Luke
What different possible meanings do you think "sensation" has in the context of Wittgenstein's scenario? — Luke
How can you possibly understand the scenario if you don't know what he means by "sensation"? — Luke
No two tokens are the same token, but they can be considered as (tokens of) the same type/class. — Luke
What does it refer to then? — Luke
We learn the names of types and we learn what tokens (typically) belong to those types by means of examples and repetition. — Luke
If it's not by type, then how else can two distinct tokens be the same? Try to answer without simply repeating that they're the same (or some other synonym). — Luke
"Final cause" simply means the purpose for which something is caused. — Apollodorus
I think the easiest way to understand Plato and Platonism is to look at Creation as a diversification or “multiplification” of what is absolutely one. — Apollodorus
The literal meaning of arche is “beginning” or “origin”. To obtain true knowledge of anything, the philosopher must rise above assumptions or hypotheses to the first principle itself. In relation to knowledge, the philosopher must rise to its very origin or source.
Hence we are told that the Good is the source of all knowledge: — Apollodorus
According to your translation, what comes after the question? — Luke
My explanation obviously didn't take. Try this: First, establish the particular sense/use/meaning of the word. Second, apply the type/token distinction. — Luke
In this case, we are talking about a "sensation". Do you need any help with the meaning of that word? — Luke
It's not me, either. Where did I ever say "two instances of the same word are not the same word"? — Luke
Are the two of these, two distinct instances of the same token?
— Metaphysician Undercover
No. An instance is a token, so they are two distinct instances or two distinct tokens. — Luke
I have introduced the type/token distinction to try and create clarity about the meaning of "the same". You have done nothing but try to maintain opacity. — Luke
You have not answered my question: What do you mean by "the same"? — Luke
ntil you can clarify what you mean by "the same", then I don't understand what this means. — Luke
It’s a direct quote. Explain how it’s a misreading. — Luke
No. An instance is a token, so they are two distinct instances or two distinct tokens. — Luke
What do you mean by “the very same thing”?
You don’t allow that two instances of “word” can be the same but you allow that two instances of a sensation can be the same?
What do you think “recurrence” means? — Luke
The way I see it, in Plato’s metaphysics everything is secondary to intelligence and knowledge which presupposes a subject. Starting with the dictum “Know thyself”, Plato proceeds from the philosopher’s own individual intelligence to that intelligence which encompasses everything and is the cause and source of all knowledge and all intelligence. And this ultimate source and cause must be one. If it isn’t one, the philosopher must carry on his quest until he discovers that which is the ultimate one. — Apollodorus
Socrates (Plato):
You are to say that the objects of knowledge not only receive from the presence of the Good their being known, but their very existence and essence is derived to them from it, though the Good itself is not essence but still transcends essence in dignity and surpassing power (Rep. 6.509b) — Apollodorus
Further evidence is provided by the Parmenides:
“Then the One, if it has neither beginning nor end, is unlimited.”
“Yes, it is unlimited” (Parm. 137d) — Apollodorus
The discussion eventually turns to the One and comes to the following conclusion:
It is impossible to conceive of many without one.”
“True, it is impossible.”
“Then if One does not exist, the Others neither are nor are conceived to be either one or many.”
“No so it seems.”
“The Others neither are nor appear to be any of these, if the One does not exist.”
“True.”
“Then if we were to say in a word, 'if the One is not, nothing is,' should we be right?”
“Most assuredly.” (Parm. 166b)
So Plato, through Parmenides, is saying that nothing can exist without the One. — Apollodorus
As stated by Aristotle, the One is the essence and formal cause and “the Others” are the material cause. — Apollodorus
At PI 241, W states that "What is true or false is what human beings say". — Luke
How can you maintain both that "The English language consists of a multitude of language-games", and also that "There is nothing which "the English language" actually refers to"? — Luke
I'm saying consider the type as a word, a noun, a concept, or a class, because that might help you to distinguish types from tokens, which are concrete instances or objects of that type. Or forget the type-token distinction altogether and look at Wittgenstein's use of the word "recurrence" at PI 258 instead. — Luke
That is, it is your position that all naming (naming anything) is a mistake. — Luke
The way I see it, not just Platonism but philosophy in general as inquiry into truth, must lead to an ultimate first principle or arche which, by definition, is one. Therefore, it is not incorrect to call the first principle “the One”, in the same way it is not incorrect to call the Good “one” or “the One”. — Apollodorus
"[With respect to ethics and religion] we cannot express what we want to express and that all we say about the absolute miraculous remains nonsense. ... My whole tendency and I believe the tendency of all men who ever tried to write or talk ethics or religion was to run against the boundaries of language. This running against the walls of our cage is perfectly, absolutely, hopeless. – Ethics, so far as it springs from the desire to say something about the ultimate meaning of life, the absolute good, the absolute valuable can be no science. What it says does not add to our knowledge in any sense. But it is a document of a tendency in the human mind which I personally cannot help respecting deeply and I would not for my life ridicule it".
Let's be clear. Everyone else reads the sections around §48 as showing something like that there are no ultimate simples, that the standards we use for defining complexity are in a sense arbitrary. — Banno
I think the belief in one ultimate first principle followed by Forms followed by sensible particulars is compatible with Plato. — Apollodorus
As we have seen, Plato taught that particulars have no existence (or essence) of their own. They depend for their existence on “copies” of Forms whose properties they instantiate.
He later developed this idea, introducing the view that sensibles result from the interaction of “form-copies” (homoiotes) and the “receptacle” (hypodoche), which is a form of all-pervading space that serves as a medium for the elements out of which material objects are fashioned. So the objects are made of primary elements shaped by form-copies. — Apollodorus
You overlooked my quote of PI 241. — Luke
Does the English language have real existence? — Luke
Santa Claus or any other proper noun does not really fit types and tokens, because proper nouns only have one type or token. — Luke
However, that is no argument against common nouns which can be classified into types and their tokens. Types represent their tokens in the sense that a type is a word that represents a (class/type of) concrete token/object. So your argument isn't what you think. To argue that "what the words represent is imaginary" is to argue that tokens are imaginary, not that types are imaginary. — Luke
There is no problem with naming sensations in our public language; we do do that every day, in case you hadn't noticed. — Luke
258 is talking about a private language, not our public language. Think about that, instead of pretending to know what you are talking about. — Luke
es, and who claimed that conventional usage implies that Santa exists? You are confused. Still. — Luke
What is specific about us is our ability to wield negation, and with it, the practice of symbolic, rather than indexical and iconic, uses of language. — StreetlightX
I should have known better than to engage. — Banno
Why are you introducing truth and falsity? — Luke
Correctly call what existence? Are you questioning the existence and use of nouns? — Luke
Whose imagination does common usage exist in? If all types are imaginary, then all nouns in the English language are imaginary. But in that case, I could not call you an imbecile. — Luke
f the problem with naming sensations is found at 258, then why tell me to re-read 244? — Luke
Who claimed that it did? — Luke
Yes, common or conventional usage constitutes the existence of a "type". — Luke
tTat's just not what is being claimed. — Banno
You are convinced of something along the lines of words having determinate, identifiable or statable meanings, in this case arguing that identity has something to do with location. But this is the very ting that has been dismissed in the argument you so tortuously mis-comprehend. — Banno
What Wittgenstein shows is that words do not have such fixed meanings. — Banno
We do not decide conclusively if two temporally separated instances are or are not the very same thing, — Banno
Aristotle himself refers to Plato at 988a25.
Aristotle says that Plato recognizes only two basic causes:
1. The cause of essence which is the One.
2. The material cause which is the “Great and the Small”, a.k.a. the “Indefinite Dyad”. — Apollodorus
Why? — Banno
As I, and pretty much everyone else, read this section, we see that what Wittgenstein has shown is that there can be no "principal criterion of identity". — Banno
The reason for my insertion is the translator's (Hugh Tredennick's) own note:
And of those who hold that unchangeable substances exist, some 5
....
5 Plato; cf. Aristot. Met. 1.6.10.
Aristotle, Metaphysics, Book 14, section 1091b
Tredennick actually says "Plato". — Apollodorus
. According to Plato the One is the cause of the Forms and the Forms the cause of everything else. — Apollodorus
Additionally, Plato himself says that the One is without beginning nor end and unlimited:
“Then the One, if it has neither beginning nor end, is unlimited.”
“Yes, it is unlimited” (Parm. 137d) — Apollodorus
Aren't we talking about the sensation of pain? What many different ways are there to define "pain" in this sense? (I'm not asking what many different types of pain there are). — Luke
Yes, common or conventional usage constitutes the existence of a "type". Like when Pluto was declassified as a planet. "Planet" is the type, the definition of the word. The rocks in our solar system are the concrete particulars that we classify as planets or not planets. — Luke
What I've told you multiple times is that the type-token distinction is independent of "things sensed"; the distinction is merely classificatory, distinguishing a class from its instances; a name from the things named. — Luke
He says there doesn't seem to be any problem of words referring to sensations, and that "we talk about sensations every day, and name them". Where does he "explain how there really is a problem" with words referring to sensations? — Luke
You start by saying the problem is not with "S" but end by saying the problem is with justifying the use of "S"...? — Luke
Meta's public language argument(!), which demonstrates the logical impossibility of a public language.
...All stated in a public language. — Luke
One thing of note in your posts is their mercurial nature. — Banno
Then help me to work out if naming is part of a language game or not. — Banno
In the context of what has been discussed, he does make some important statements, e.g.:
And of those who hold that unchangeable substances exist, some [i.e., the Platonists] say that the One itself is the Good itself (Aristot. Meta. 1091b13) — Apollodorus
For example, the word “one” (hen) can have many meanings. The most important of these is “One in the sense of ultimate principle beyond being”. The second-most important is “One in the sense of Monad as a principle of Number”. The third is “one as a number”, etc. — Apollodorus
Numbers may, indeed, be said to be “between Forms and sensibles” but only in the sense of abstract mathematical ideas, i.e., in the domain of reason, which is certainly not what the One as ultimate principle is. — Apollodorus
Plato is a very complex writer who uses metaphor, allegory, myth, logic, mathematics, astrology, harmony theory, and even humor to convey a message. But his personality and life show that he also is a writer who is dead serious about his overarching philosophical project. And I think those who take him seriously have more to gain than those who don’t. — Apollodorus
If I can make a reasonable distinction between the headache I have now and the headache I had then, then they are different instances of headache. — Janus
All those pages about tokens and types miss the point. — Banno
I was describing my guess at MU's view, so you agree with him rather than me. — Srap Tasmaner
but this is oddly matched against a form of essentialism, where there is a determinate meaning for each and every word; and hence Metaphysician Undercover sees the philosophers task as somehow identifying that essence. — Banno
To which I said "this is clearly false".Yes, there are many different types or classes of pain (these are the subclasses), but there is only one type or class that is "pain". — Luke
However, this is not the whole story. There is something missing there and this is that aspect of the soul that is responsible for the five sensory faculties of sight, smell, taste, hearing, and feeling by touch.
There is an additional aspect responsible for motor faculties such as locomotion, etc. But the relevant part here is the sensory or sensual aspect that we may provisionally call “aisthetikon” (from aesthesis, sensation). — Apollodorus
Aristotle says:
From this account it is clear that he [Plato] only employed two causes: that of the essence, and the material cause; for the Forms are the cause of the essence in everything else, and the One is the cause of it in the Forms (Aristot. Meta. 987b19-988a14) — Apollodorus
If we take Aristotle’s statement, “the Forms are the causes of everything else” in an absolute sense, then they will be the cause of the Good, not only of the One. — Apollodorus
That seems absurd to me. Say last week I had a headache, and now today I have a headache. They are two different occasions or instances of having a headache. They are not the same headache, as they would be if it had persisted the whole time. — Janus
Yes, there are many different types or classes of pain (these are the subclasses), but there is only one type or class that is "pain". — Luke
I agree the type exists only as in knowing how to use the word "pain" correctly; as the definition of the word "pain"; or as our agreed usage of the word "pain". — Luke
he word "sensation" as it is used in our public language does have criteria of correctness. — Luke
I disagree with this reading. The word "sensation" as it is used in our public language does have criteria of correctness. And he clearly indicates at PI 244 that our reference to sensations is unproblematic: — Luke
He is referring here to the mistaken idea that "the connection between the name and the thing
named" can be established privately. He is not saying that this is a problem for the words "sensation" or "pain" as these are words of our public language. The problem is with the putative private word/sign "S". — Luke
That is, what reason have we for calling the private sign "S" the sign of a sensation, given that the word "sensation" has a public meaning? — Luke
If there are no instances of pain, then there is only the abstract concept of "pain"; only the meaning of the word with nothing (no tokens) that belongs to that type. That obviously contradicts how we use the word. — Luke
Why should religious/spiritual people hold the philosophical community as authoritative over the religious/spiritual community? — baker
Do you feel the need to demonstrate to the religious/spiritual people that you are right? — baker
A) The One is the cause of the Forms and the Forms are the cause of everything else.
(B) There are only two causes: that of the essence, and the material cause.
(C) There is a material principle called the “Great and Small” and an essence or formal principle called “the One”.
(D) The “Great and Small” or “Dyad” is traditionally identified with what is elsewhere called the “Unlimited and Limit” and with the One.
(E) Therefore the One is the ultimate cause of everything.
The mainstream Platonic position is that: (1) there is a first principle of all and (2) Plato reduces sensibles to Forms and Forms to a first principle called “the Good” or “the One”. — Apollodorus
I understand that "the One" in Plato, refers to a type of Form which is responsible for the existence of numbers. But "the One" is not necessarily the first principle, or first Form. For that position we must look to "the Good".
So, to begin with, I think it is reasonable to regard the Creator-God as a form of Intelligence. And since he creates the Cosmos from the Same, Other, and Being, and according to certain eternal patterns such as Goodness, Order, and Beauty, it stands to reason that these patterns or Forms are within this very Intelligence itself. — Apollodorus
(A) The Creator-God is above the Cosmos.
(B) The One/the Good is above the Creator-God.
(C) The One is the first principle and cause of all.
(D) Therefore the Creator-God is a manifestation of the One. — Apollodorus
Of course, it is arguable that the One being ineffable, unfathomable, and above Being, the designation “the Good” is, strictly speaking, inappropriate for it and that the One becomes “the Good” only in relation to Being and Becoming. In this sense, the Good may logically be said to be subordinate to the One. Ultimately, however, the two are one and the same thing. — Apollodorus
Therefore, there are not many different types or classes of pain. — Luke
You're right, neither of us can. We can't have the class/category. We can only have tokens or instances of that class/category. — Luke
Correct, but - in this example - a "sensatIon" is a token of the type "inner experience". And each subtype will have its own tokens. That's the mere taxonomy I was referring to. — Luke
Is there not a different instance of pain each time you hit your hand with the hammer? — Janus
That doesn't answer my question of what you think a token is, or how you think I am using the word "token". — Luke
There is only one type, which is "pain" - i.e. the category or class called "pain". — Luke
Likewise, if you had a Ford Mustang and I had a Ford Mustang, then there would not be two different types of car (yours and mine); instead there would be two different tokens of the (one) same type of car: "Ford Mustang". — Luke
We cannot possibly have different types of "pain" in the way you suggest. In order to have different types we might call your type "pain A" and my type "pain B". But all that distinguishes pain A from pain B is that one is yours and one is mine. Either they both still refer to what we were previously calling "pain" or else we are no longer talking about "pain". — Luke
In order to be different types, if you had something of the type "pain", then I would need to have something of a different type that is not "pain". — Luke
Moreover, you cannot have a type. — Luke
Wittgenstein does not mention the word "pain" at all at PI 258. He mentions only the word/symbol "S", which has a supposedly private use in a supposedly private language. — Luke
There is no need to explicitly mention the One everywhere. The point is to follow the logical process suggested in the dialogues. Once a principle of inquiry has been established that reduces everything to a first principle, then we must logically arrive at an irreducible One. Of course, we are under no obligation to do so. It is a matter of personal choice. — Apollodorus
A beautiful girl, a beautiful horse, and a beautiful lyre are beautiful by reason of their co-having, having a share, or participating in the Beautiful (or Beauty) itself (Hipp. Maj. 287e-289d).
The girl, horse, and lyre are things that participate; beauty is the property or attribute they participate in; Beauty itself is the unparticipated, transcendent Form to which the property or attribute properly belongs. — Apollodorus
Plato distinguishes between a property, e.g. Beauty, “itself” (auto to kalon), and beauty in beautiful things or in us (en hemin kalon) (Phaedo 102d). Beauty itself is perfect, eternal, transcendent and “unparticipated”. It cannot be co-had. What is co-had is an imperfect, transient, immanent and “participated” or “shared in” version or likeness (homoiotes) of Beauty, also referred to as “enmattered form” (enulon eidos). — Apollodorus
Personally, I see the One as not comparable to a particular sensible object. To begin with, it is not an instance of a universal. So it is not a particular. :smile: — Apollodorus
