[MD] SOM Problem #6523213: Relativity and Truth

mail at tuukkavirtaperko.net mail at tuukkavirtaperko.net
Sun Jan 15 01:36:24 PST 2012


David,

> Firstly, the word 'relativity' from a SOM perspective is a problem.
> 'All truths are relative and so we don't really know what's true' is  
>  a SOM statement.

I'm not sure whether you mean "relativity, as that word is used within  
the SOM perspective, is a problem" or "relativity is a problem from a  
SOM perspective". I'd say the word 'relativity' is a problem from any  
perspective, because it has different meaning depending on the  
context. In a Buddhist context it means something it apparently  
doesn't mean in any branch of Western moral philosophy. But Buddhist  
"relativism" has analogues in computer science, such as "recursion"  
and "dynamically typed programming language".

> From the perspective of the MOQ, relativity simply  implies that a  
> comparison between two patterns has been made. This  comparison is  
> itself a pattern like every other and is not a  requirement for  
> static patterns to exist.

 From a logical point of view, the comparison pattern is  
metatheoretic, so it's not "a pattern like every other", if you excuse  
my nitpicking. Such a metapattern has potential existence, but I'm not  
sure in what sense it is supposed to exist, when a person is not  
performing meta-analysis. I mean, there is no upper limit to how many  
metalevels there could be, but not all of them "exist" in any sense  
that is different to the way how obscenely large numbers, which I  
cannot express, "exist".

> To say that static  patterns are relative is like saying they exist  
> because any  comparison creates a pattern.

I'm not sure what this means.

> All we can say about static patterns  existing is that they do exist  
> and are better than nothing. Right?

We can say that, but I wouldn't say that's all we can say about them.  
Their mutual relations could best be described by the concept of  
"linear emergence". In RP, there are more complex emergence relations.

In RP, it does make sense to say the patterns are recursively defined.  
Canonical MOQ, on the other hand, is not well-defined enough to  
definitively and readily explain, what it would mean to say the  
patterns are recursively defined. But because reality defining itself  
recursively is a Buddhist doctrine, it can readily _seen_ to be  
attachable to the MOQ even though it is not as readily, on a formal  
level, seen _already_present_ in the MOQ.

>
> Secondly, there is a distinction is between the 'truth' of something  
>  and that thing itself. For instance there is a difference between   
> the idea or truth of a tree and the 'treeness' that you experience.   
>  Or to put it another way, there is a difference between the   
> intellectual level 'truth' of a tree and the biological tree.
>

Yeah. Oftentimes the "truth" is called an intension and the "thing  
itself" is called an extension. Speaking of "things as themselves"  
("Ding an sich") can make certain other philosophers roll in their  
graves, which is a bit undesirable.

> Finally, there is another important distinction between ordinary   
> everyday static quality perspective and the perspective of DQ.  In   
> ordinary, everyday land, static patterns do not change and they are   
> very permanent.  In order for static quality patterns to change,   
> that requires Dymamic Quality.  From the perspective of Dynamic   
> Quality, or enlightenment, there are no patterns.

That's pretty wild... I would not imagine myself to be able to take  
the Perspective of Dynamic Quality. That would be like being able to  
see things like the true God sees them. I don't even know what that  
would mean. I don't what is the perspective of Dynamic Quality like,  
and I don't understand how anyone could know it sees no patterns. How  
could Dynamic Quality latch to something that does not exist?

-Tuukka



>
> -David
>
>
>> Greetings,
>>
>> I take the term 'truth' to mean "conformity with fact or reality".   
>>  In most definitions, “reality” is pretty much defined as “that   
>> which exists”.  In the MoQ, static patterns on value exist; exist   
>> not as independent, inherent entities, but as patterns.  As such, I  
>>  take static patterns of value to represent truths.  When I present  
>>  my definition of 'static patterns of value', I am presenting my   
>> definition of 'truths':
>>
>> Static patterns of value are processes, conditionally co-dependent,  
>>  impermanent, ever-changing and conceptualized, that pragmatically   
>> tend to persist and change within a stable, predictable pattern.    
>> Within the MoQ, these patterns are categorized into a four-level,   
>> evolutionary, hierarchical structure:  inorganic, biological,   
>> social and intellectual. Static quality exists in stable patterns   
>> relative to other patterns.  Patterns exist relative to innumerable  
>>  causes and conditions (patterns), relative to parts and the   
>> collection of parts (patterns), relative to conceptual designation   
>> (patterns). Patterns have no independent, inherent existence.    
>> Further, these patterns pragmatically exist relative to an   
>> individual's static pattern of life history.
>>
>>
>> Marsha
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