Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id XAA07809 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Thu, 5 Apr 2001 23:53:53 +0100 X-Originating-IP: [209.240.220.215] From: "Scott Chase" <ecphoric@hotmail.com> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: RE: The Demise of a Meme Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2001 18:49:41 -0400 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Message-ID: <F259p37Q6p2dzTw1ZZb00001601@hotmail.com> X-OriginalArrivalTime: 05 Apr 2001 22:49:41.0926 (UTC) FILETIME=[B3B0FC60:01C0BE22] Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>From: <joedees@bellsouth.net>
>Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>Subject: RE: The Demise of a Meme
>Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2001 22:56:46 -0500
>
>On 2 Apr 2001, at 16:12, Vincent Campbell wrote:
>
> > ummm...... I suspect some hidden complexity here that I'm too
> > harassed, or too dumb (yep shout the gallery) to get. I suppose
> > arbitrary decisions need not be false per se, but they're only ever
> > right by chance (just like all those "systems" people use to try and
> > win lotteries).
> >
> > Vincent
> >
>Arbitrary = without reference to the state or process of affairs
>purportedly represented. Thus, onomotopoeic words (such as
>'hiss' for the sound a snake makes) are not arbitrary or by mutual
>convention, since the sound of the term resembles the sound made
>by the referent, while the name 'snake' to refer to the no-legged
>critter that so hisses is an arbitrary term, agreed upon by mutual
>convention; we could just as well call snakes 'egbert's', if we all
>agreed to..
>
Instead of being capable of verification or falsification, there are some
ideas (or statements about reality relating to these ideas) which are
arbitrary. They can't be tested in any rigorous manner. If I'm not mistaken,
Leonard Peikoff is to blame for placing this "meme" into my mindbrain, from
my skim through his _Objectivism: the Philosophy of Ayn Rand_, but my
mindbrain is in too much of an excluded muddle to deal with the details of
his arguments right now.
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