Re: Selfish meme?

From: Dace (edace@earthlink.net)
Date: Fri Jan 25 2002 - 19:52:39 GMT

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From: "Dace" <edace@earthlink.net>
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Subject: Re: Selfish meme?
Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2002 11:52:39 -0800
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    > >Lawrence,
    > >
    > > > You may be thinking of the term 'motile' or 'motion'.
    > >
    > >Nope. "Motive" has two meanings, psychological and physical.
    > >
    > > > 'Motive' is a term readily used and understood by psychologists to
    > > > refer to intent.
    > >
    > >As I stated in my post, the psychological meaning is derivative. The
    > >Latin root, motivus, means to move. In its most basic meaning, motive
    > >means to cause motion.
    >
    > A word means whatever you use it to mean. You could call it "flubber"
    > and it wouldn't matter as long as you make clear how you are using it
    > and what you mean by it. So it makes no difference what the Romans
    > used it for, not the millions of other people who have used the word for
    > their own purposes -- all that counts when you use a word is what YOU
    > are using it for.
    >
    > Grant

    Communication requires agreement regarding the meaning of terms. Lawrence
    thought "motive" refers only to human intent. I pointed out to him that the
    term can refer to anything that moves according to its own needs, and it's
    in that sense that I was using it. The point is that motivation doesn't
    require human consciousness. As Dawkins pointed out, to assert that memes
    are selfish in no way implies personification of them.

    Ted

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