On Tuesday, October 30, 2018 at 8:14:31 PM UTC+1, Brent wrote: > > > > On 10/30/2018 4:01 AM, Tomas Pales wrote: > > > > On Tuesday, October 30, 2018 at 10:36:59 AM UTC+1, Bruno Marchal wrote: > >> >> Any object can be inconsistently defined. I can define the moon by the >> set of squared circles. >> > > The set of squared circles is the empty set. The moon is not an empty set, > it has a complex internal structure. > > Anyway, the word "define" has two meanings which need to be distinguished. > "An object is *defined*" may mean: > > 1) "An object is *described*" (this usually means that there must be > someone who defines/describes the object) > > 2) "An object is *constituted/formed*" (this doesn't require anyone to > define the object, just as the fact that an object is composed of parts > doesn't require a composer) > > > Where did you come up with these? To define an object means to cite > sufficient characteristics of the object so that it is distinguished from > all other objects. It is described in the sense of 1) supra, but the > description need not be extensive; simple ostensive definition by pointing > suffices, which is probably how you learned the definition of "Moon". > > Your "definition" 2) makes no sense. Listing all the constituents of an > object to what level? atoms? quantum fields? And how does that even > suffice to distinguish an object from other objects with the same > constituents? When you've tried to use your idea of "consistently defined" > you've resorted to including all relations to other objects in the > "consistent definition" which makes the object distinct from other objects > but which makes the definition of an object unknowable. >
In the first sense, an object is defined by someone. In the second sense, an object is defined by its properties, parts and relations. -- 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 https://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
