[MD] Philosophy and Abstraction

[John Carl]

Greetings Dan and everyone,

john prev:

> > I assure you that I'm being sincere when I say the only "reality" I can ever
> > experience  meaningfully is through a narrative of relative concepts- which
> > is what "language" is and thus it seems to me, the only pragmatically good
> > way to approach it is just admit it's language, all the way down.
>
> Dan:
>
> Intellectually speaking, yes. But reality is more than that. Perhaps
> that's why I consider myself a storyteller rather than a philosopher.
> I use language to tell a (fictional) story but there is something
> there much deeper than the language I use. As I said, you know that
> too. I can tell by the stories you have shared. Language allows us to
> express value but language is not the value we express. No good
> storyteller would ever admit that it is only language all the way
> down, would they?
>

John:  In a reductionist sense, no.  And I see what you mean.  I did
place the caveat somewhere along the lines of this discussion that
language as "i'm defining it" - an expansion of language, just as the
MoQ proposes an expansion of "intellect", I'm urging an expansion of
"language".

And this really started as a topic of discussion, at least in my mind,
from a posting Adrie shared about the bits of the matter being bytes.
That in a very real sense, It IS information, all the way down.
Meaningful, relational information is what reality is, deep down.
Another way of saying "Meaningful, relational information"  is
"language".

And what is language, but a story?  A narrative is the only basis for
meaning and understanding possible, so I'd be just as content saying
"it's all stories, all the way down".


> Dan:
>
> Well, to my mind, there is no point to dabbling in nonsense... it is
> like playing video games or watching tv... it dulls the mind and
> weakens the senses. I enjoy good conversation but I find it is a
> difficult commodity to come by, so silence seems better. As far as
> Rorty, I have never read much. He seemed like a very smart man but not
> my cup of tea.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Dan

As far as Rorty goes, I'm only going on what I hear in the MoQ.  As
far as philosophic conversation goes, I'm only going on what I hear in
the MoQ.  As far as nonsense... well, you know.

Peace,

John