I find a million differences in humans yet they all have two arms/two legs/
One head /One chest /one lumbar region/ and a pelvis and two ears/
 two eyes/
two nostrils ten finger and toes /Etc. to me those are the areas
 i can any
express  or symbolize any meaning I wish with the the form, 
ab
________________________________
 From: Tom McCormack <[email protected]>
To:
[email protected] 
Sent: Friday, July 27, 2012 2:46 PM
Subject: Re:
is list dead?
 
I wrote:

> Also: My name and address differentiate me from
anyone else in the world.
> Would you call them my "essence"?

Saul then
advanced his description of his notion of 'essence' from "the
essence of
something being the minimal
>
> conditions that allow us to distinguish it
from another thing" to

> "the essence of something being the minimal
>
conditions that allow us to distinguish it from another thing (of a
>
different kind or order)."

But Saul also wrote:
>
> If that combination is
the most significant difference we might identify
> then I would say yes

This
is troublesome because the whole game of coming up with this stipulative
definition of 'essence' now rides on a person's notion of "significant". I see
a circle trembling on the horizon:

> - though I do not think there is any
essential
> difference between one human and another - though there may be
between the
> quality of their life - this is why I chose a phenomenal rather
than a
> linguistic criteria - i.e. the essence of something being the minimal
> conditions that allow us to distinguish it from another thing (of a
>
different kind or order) -

An "essential difference" is needed to make
something an essence. And how do
we determine if something is "essential"? We
see if it is "significant". And
how do we determine if something is
"significant"? Well, it's significant if
it means something is of a "different
kind or order". And how do we determine
that? Well, it's of a different kind
or order if it makes for a different
essence. Oy.

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