Hi Ralph:
On 11/1/2010 10:18, [email protected] wrote: > > I thought "hazard" was a perfectly good noun. A hazard is something that > can hurt you or do damage to property. It's the name of a thing, isn't it? Yes, a noun represents a "thing." The noun "hazard" supposedly represents a "thing." Can you identify the "thing" that is a "hazard"? Would you say that a safe product is one that has no "hazards"? A long time ago, one of my professors described some nouns as "thingified abstractions." We tend to think that "things" have properties that can be detected by one or more of the five senses. An abstraction does not have properties that can be detected by the five senses. The noun "hazard" represents an abstraction, not a real "thing." Consequently, the word has different meanings for each of us. For this reason, it may not be a "perfectly good" noun, depending on the context. We can't communicate very well if each of us has a different meaning for "hazard." Indeed, that is the case! Your definition defines "hazard" as some "thing." If you think about the "thing" that "can hurt you or do property damage," I think you will find that the "thing" is energy (joules) that is transferred >from an energy source to a body part or to property. The next time you're in a discussion, and the word "hazard" is used, listen carefully and try to understand its definition in the context of the discussion. As the discussion progresses, the definition may change! My professor said that we can't have understanding unless we have the same meanings for the words we use. He further said that we cannot do clear thinking unless we have clear definitions for the words we use. Best regards, Rich - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc Graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. can be posted to that URL. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <[email protected]> David Heald: <[email protected]>
