I'm saying that 70 degrees F is a made up number to calibrate differences in what we perceive as changes in heat or warmth on our skin. With that made up quantity we can apply it to other things besides our skin. Just as a letter of the alphabet is a stand in for some utterance so is a number a stand in for some kind of heat. Metaphors are stand-ins for something else. One thing taken as another to achieve some clarity or better end. All measurements are stand ins for actual qualities or conditions. They do enable us to organize sense experience...metaphorically. WC
--- On Tue, 9/23/08, Michael Brady <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > From: Michael Brady <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: Examining the theory > To: [email protected] > Date: Tuesday, September 23, 2008, 4:27 PM > On Sep 23, 2008, at 5:13 PM, William Conger wrote: > > > Nah, all measurements are metaphors. > > > I've stayed with you on your metaphor/"as-if" > approach, because I > think that in practically every instance where you mention > it, you're > using it the way I'm thinking of it (--is that okay, > Cheerskep?--). > But measurements are metaphors? I can't be that > categorical. It's not > as if you say, the temperature today is *like* 70 degrees, > as if > 'degrees' were real things and you are comparing > two things. You are > asserting that the quality you are > measuring--temperature--is > calibrated at a certain quantity, expressed in degrees F. > That doesn't > sound like a metaphor to me. > > > | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | > Michael Brady > [EMAIL PROTECTED]
