AtD: John MacTaggart Ellis MacTaggart

[gary webb]

Yes! The end of the 19th Century and beginning of the 20th were
iconoclastic for space and time as concepts. David Bohm's Quantum Theory,
in particular Chapter 8: Physical Picture of Quantum Nature of Matter,
"The Entire system of classical concepts must, therefore be replaced by a
totally new system of quantum-theoretical concepts, each of which has
meaning only in a context when all others are true. The system of quantum
concepts involves the assumptions of incomplete continuity, incomplete
determinism, and the indivisible unity of the entire universe. These maybe
summarized by saying the properties of matter are to be expressed in terms
of opposing but complementary pairs of potentialities, either of which can
be realized in a more definite form in an appropriate environment but only
at the expense of a corresponding loss in the degree of definition of the
other (pg.168)"

More succinctly, in a Wave-Particle duality context:

"Thus, when we say that there is an electron in a certain region of space,
we tend to imply that there is, in this region, a separate object having
intrinsic properties that are independent of the systems with which this
object interacts. Yet, we know that an electron acts more like a wave or
more like a particle, depending on what system it interacts with, as well
as on the electron itself (ibid. pg.168)"

Are they indeterminate yet indivisible "beings", by-products of some more
cataclysmic explosion at some yet to be completely determined point in the
future?

On Wed, Jul 3, 2019 at 11:12 AM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:

> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phenomenology_of_Spirit
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
> From: Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
> Date: Wed, Jul 3, 2019 at 10:51 AM
> Subject: AtD: John MacTaggart Ellis MacTaggart
> To: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>
>
> was a philosopher at Trinity College, Cambridge, who enjoyed a considerable
> reputation in his day.
> I have never read any of his works, but I believe that he was an Hegelian;
> an exponent of a philosophy now
> out of favor, except in the form of Dialectical Materialism. ...
> But it is said to have been Mr. MacTaggart who offers the explanation that
> the word *runcible *means *tortoise-shell*
> [ basing this on two books *The Owl and the Pussycat *and *The Pobble who
> Has No Toes. ]*
> *                                                         ----T. S. Eliot
> *in
> "Can 'Education' Be Defined" collected in *To Criticize the Critic*
>
> Highly probable that this is the first place TRP learned of MacTaggart and
> I think I see how TRP uses him to
> satirize Marxism a bit and Hegelian semi-notions---history unfolding to a
> great Spirit [knowledge], say.
>
> In fact, he might be mocking The Phenomenology of Spirit with the
> Trespassers.
>
> THIS is where our history leads.
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>