Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!tank!eecae!cps3xx!cpsvax!wallingf
From: wallingf@cpsvax.cps.msu.edu (Eugene Wallingford)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Making fires and making minds - the laws of physics prevail
Message-ID: <2879@cps3xx.UUCP>
Date: 6 May 89 14:43:21 GMT
References: <3019@tank.uchicago.edu> <18020@cup.portal.com>
Sender: usenet@cps3xx.UUCP
Reply-To: wallingf@cpsvax.UUCP (Eugene Wallingford)
Organization: Michigan State University, Computer Science Department
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In article <18020@cup.portal.com> Daniel B. Hankins writes:

>
>     'Man is the measure of all things' is a recent idea, stemming largely
       --------------------------------
>from Judeo-Christian notions of the place of Man in the Universe.  Some
>cultures still do not share it.  No wonder our distant ancestors believed
>that free will can be ascribed in equal measure to all active and
>capricious things, from animals to weather.
>
 
Just a side note...  I believe it was Protagoras who made this point
the cornerstaone of his philosophy.  When and where did Protagoras live?
As I also recall from a distant philosophy class, this notion fell out
of favor with most metaphysicians for a particular reason.  Can anyone
fill me in?