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From: mark@umcp-cs.UUCP (Mark Weiser)
Newsgroups: talk.philosophy.misc
Subject: Re: A and not A
Message-ID: <3591@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 25-Sep-86 19:58:30 EDT
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.3591
Posted: Thu Sep 25 19:58:30 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 29-Sep-86 00:21:38 EDT
References: <3539@umcp-cs.UUCP> <12726@kestrel.ARPA>
Reply-To: mark@umcp-cs.UUCP (Mark Weiser)
Organization: University of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Sci.
Lines: 32

In article <12726@kestrel.ARPA> ladkin@kestrel.ARPA (Peter Ladkin) writes:
>In article <3539@umcp-cs.UUCP>, mark@umcp-cs.UUCP (Mark Weiser) writes:
>> [.....]  So change truth
>> to mean: 'part of the possible existence of people".
>
>??????????????????????????????????????????????????????
>
>Peter Ladkin
>ladkin@kestrel.arpa


Oh, I bet you are one of those who likes: "'P' is true just if P"
for your definition of truth (Tarski).  I find this definition
rather silly as it leaves out just about all the hard questions,
and furthermore only applies when there is language, or worse,
logic.  Long before there was language there was truth and falsity:
for instance, the pre-linguistic hunter/gatherer on a false trail
or a true trail in the woods.  Before there can be a P, much less
a 'P', there has to be the possiblity of experiencing the world.
That is why 'truth' as 'part of the possible existence of people',
while just a shorthand expression, is a lot closer to what truth
really means than the logicians definition.

If you want to know more, check out one of the most influential
philosophers of the 20th century, Martin Heidegger.  With particular
regard to truth, try: "On the Essence of Truth", in Existence and
Being, published by Regnery, Chicago (1949).
-mark
-- 
Spoken: Mark Weiser 	ARPA:	mark@maryland	Phone: +1-301-454-7817
CSNet:	mark@umcp-cs 	UUCP:	{seismo,allegra}!umcp-cs!mark
USPS: Computer Science Dept., University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742