Subj : EUROPE                                                   [1]
To   : BOB EYER
From : TODD HENSON
Date : Thu Oct 26 2000 07:08 pm

> 
> SGID: 1:250/710 0053fb9c
> >>Your error is in assuming that everything that is truly important
> >>to man MUST be something that can be measured by a number.  It
> 
> BE:
> -No I'm not assuming that at all.  We may, and commonly do,
> -appreciate both qualitative and quantitative aspects of reality.
> -
> -But to make comparative judgments of greater than or less than, it
> -is necessary to use numerical variables, as there is no coherent
> -way of describing a thing of one quality as greater than a thing
> -of another quality.  It is obviously nonsense to describe an
> 
> >What of the quality of the soul?
> 
> I don't think there is any such thing.  See my message to Voigt
> in this packet.


Oh, but of course not. You'd just rather deny human nature and assume that
everything is 
explainable in numeric terms. It's utterly laughable.


> >What of the quality of a culture which contributes to moral
> >strength?  Peace of mind?  Family bonds?
> 
> These are all important to us and we all know how to describe
> them meaningfully.  But unless moral strength, peace of mind or
> family bonds can be ranged in a numerical series, there is no
> way of describing them as being "greater than" others.  For, it


The fact that YOU cannot describe them as being greater than others is
merely a product of 
your own moral blindness. It is sad that you cannot discern certain moral
positions as being 
better than others. Oh, but then you'd try to explain it away in dry,
utilitarian terms, but that 
method you use has already been shown to be inadequte back when Hal was
here, but you 
were in denial then.

I can only hope that you don't have any kind of influence on smalll
children, seeing as how the 
intangible issues that make us human seem to out of reach to you.


> is an analytic proposition that the relation 'greater than' is a
> relation between two numbers.


What a sadly narrow view...have fun in robot land.

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