Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id OAA11537 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Sat, 12 May 2001 14:18:11 +0100 Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 19:57:27 +0100 To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: Information Message-ID: <20010511195727.A709@ii01.org> References: <20010509182927.AAA5007@camailp.harvard.edu@[128.103.125.215]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.3.15i In-Reply-To: <20010509182927.AAA5007@camailp.harvard.edu@[128.103.125.215]>; from wade_smith@harvard.edu on Wed, May 09, 2001 at 02:29:07PM -0400 From: Robin Faichney <robin@ii01.org> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
On Wed, May 09, 2001 at 02:29:07PM -0400, Wade T.Smith wrote:
> On 05/09/01 13:19, Robin Faichney said this-
>
> >You obviously don't have to agree with me. The pressure you're feeling
> >is the need to give good reasons for not doing so.
>
> I doubt many people will agree with the following-
>
> >>The best way to use any word is entirely a matter of opinion.
>
> And I certainly don't.
>
> And I think it is an extraordinary claim, and extraordinary claims
> require extraordinary evidence.
>
> The pressure you're feeling is the need to give good reasons for claiming
> such.
I don't agree. Subjectivity -- first impressions -- is the default.
If you claim *anything* is *not* merely a matter of opinion, you should
be able to say why. In some cases that's easy. For instance, the
structure of matter is the paradigm case for the application of objective
methodology -- it is very obviously *not* merely a matter of opinion.
But values are something else -- noone has ever come up with an entirely
objective way to decide about actual values (as opposed to matters of
fact disguised as questions about values). The "best" anything, unless
what's "better" is entirely explicit and agreed, is about valuation,
a matter of opinion. If you don't agree, let's hear your case.
-- Robin Faichney Get your Meta-Information from http://www.ii01.org (CAUTION: contains philosophy, may cause heads to spin)=============================================================== This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing) see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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