[MF] What are people?

[Marty Jorgensen]

Ted & Matt said:

The answer to the question "What are people" is that "people are nothing but
relationships."  I agree that this is a very broad statement, but it's so
broad that it appears meaningless.  To say "People are nothing but
relationships" is like saying "X is nothing but Y."  In that case, the
definition of "Y" is pretty important.  "Relationships" covers a very broad
area - Dictionary.com has the following definition:

re.la.tion.ship    
n. 
1.  The condition or fact of being related; connection or association. 
2.  Connection by blood or marriage; kinship. 
3.  A particular type of connection existing between people related to or
    having dealings with each other: has a close relationship with his 
    siblings.         
4.  A romantic or sexual involvement.

The definitions that might apply are #1 and #3 (although #4 would be more
fun).  If relationship is a type of connection, what type of connection is
it, as it relates to this discussion?  If what a person is can be defined as
being the relationships they have, then these relationships / connections
must be pretty strong, in the sense that they "are" the person.  Since we
are trying to stay away from a subject / object explanation, it would seem
that what we call people are really relationships, and cannot be separated.
But the idea of a relationship needs at least two things to 'relate' to each
other, so what are these two things, and how do we keep from falling back
into SOM?

Marty J.

-----Original Message-----
From: moq_focus-bounces at moqtalk.org [mailto:moq_focus-bounces at moqtalk.org]
On Behalf Of Muzikhed at aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2006 7:45 AM
To: moq_focus at moqtalk.org
Subject: Re: [MF] What are people?

Matt said:

> If I had  to establish a bottom line on this I would say that
relationships
> are  the measure of all things and that apart from their relationships,
>  people don't exist.
>


Ted :
 
 
I like the sculpture photo Kevin posted.   Thanks.     If ever in Philly 
again, I'll look for  it. 

 
This question 'What are people' seems pretty broad, but I agree people are  
nothing but relationships, both within and across to the arbitrary  (but 
practical) skin boundary.
 
Since IT's ALL relationships, and 'people' are a part of  IT.
I guess it's obvious I'm assuming an equally broad definition of  
'relationships.'
 
If sticking to the 'relationships theme, I'd just like to make my plug for  
remembering the relationship people have to the earth, and to other life on

it...
  For example, the fact that too much (>15%) of the ground is  covered with 
water-impervious surfaces like roofs, roads, sidewalks, and  driveways, it 
destroys the watershed. 
  Or the relationship people have to planetary chemistry   the oxygen / co2

balance, 
   all our chemical interactions - acid rain, deforestation,  global
warming.
  Or the case of the genetically engineered sea weed that is taking  over
the 
Mediterranean
    - the one that escaped from the Jacques Cousteau  institute!
  Or cloning of pets ? ?
 
  I guess I'm saying the discussion sound focused on the social and  
intellectual relationships, and I agree there.  But, again the  question was
quite 
broad.  So,  just a quick plug for the inorganic  and biological
dimensions!
 
Ted
 
 
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