List of agnostics
Ian Livingston
igrlivingston at gmail.com
Fri Jun 29 20:19:57 CDT 2012
A rose by another other name, and all that. I think it's pretty well
established that we humans perceive a paltry wedge of reality with our poor
sensory receptors. But even so, when you try to nail down exactly what
anything really is, it all becomes very complex very quickly if you delve
into it in any depth. An anvil is an anvil, and rings out loudly when you
strike it with a hammer, but if you look into its molecular and atomic
structure it's more like tightly compressed space or some such shit.
Particle / waves gone frantic, whatever. Yeah, language is metaphorical in
nature, according to much better minds than mine. Cassirer is one who
argues that, among others. Buddhists go on endlessly about the inability of
language to finally pin down protean reality. Jacob's little wrestling
match in the Ole Testament is a metaphor of the same, argue some. I dunno.
I find it convenient to accept certain denotations sometimes, and let
connotative meanings color the landscape of experience for the rest. David
mentions Lacan and his take on metonymy. Why not? Language is an
agreed-upon set of sounds, signs, and symbols used to convey meaning.
On Fri, Jun 29, 2012 at 2:18 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
> "Mark" means many thing more than you, and has meant those things long
> before you existed.
>
> Also, your parents' vision of "Mark" probably contained hopes that
> never had to do with "you," because nobody knew you until long after
> you were named.
>
> David Morris
>
> On Fri, Jun 29, 2012 at 3:01 PM, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > explain.
> >
> > From: David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>>
> > Subject: Re: List of agnostics
> >
> > All names are metaphors.
>
--
"Less than any man have I excuse for prejudice; and I feel for all creeds
the warm sympathy of one who has come to learn that even the trust in
reason is a precarious faith, and that we are all fragments of darkness
groping for the sun. I know no more about the ultimates than the simplest
urchin in the streets." -- Will Durant
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