On Wed, Sep 11, 2013 at 5:41 AM, Bruno Marchal <[email protected]> wrote:
> My point was just that the verdict against Galileo was rational, or > Popperian. > I don't believe that Karl Popper was as deep a thinker as many on this list do, but I don't think he was as big a fool as THAT! > Aristotle was refuted, but this is usual in science. It does not make him > bad, on the contrary. > None of Aristotle's ideas about physics were even close to being correct and could have been easily refuted even in his own day, but instead it was held as the gospel truth for almost 2000 years. As Bertrand Russell said: "Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives' mouths." Physics would have been better off if Aristotle had never been born. > > By Aristotelian I just mean the theories which assume an ontological > physical universe. > I asked you this before but got no answer, if the physical universe does not exist how would things be different if it did? > By Platonist theories I mean the theories which do not assume a physical > universe and which try to explain the appearance of it from something else. > Then I am a Platonist and so is everybody who has half a brain because clearly the appearance of something is not the same as the thing itself. The sound of broken glass is not broken glass, the look of broken glass is not broken glass, the feel of broken glass is not broken glass. What "IS" broken glass? I don't have a complete answer but It must have stable properties of some sort or I wouldn't be able to identify it as a "thing". I don't understand why "physical universe" isn't a good name for that collection of properties. John K Clark -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
