humanities.philosophy.objectivism

On Fri, 07 Mar 2008 05:21:27 -0800, Fred Weiss
wrote:

>On Mar 6, 7:02 pm, Malrassic Park wrote:
.
>> A universal is a property such that it is considered identical to all
>> members of a class.
.
>Except that there is no such thing, something which is *identical* to
>all members of a class.
.
>> And that definition is my solution to the problem of universals.
.
>Earth to Mal, that IS the problem of "universals".
.
>You know, "where is the man-ness in man"?
.
>Which Ayn Rand brilliantly (earth-shatteringly, in fact) solved by
>"measurement omission".

That's a propaganda statement, not an argument. My arguments are
there, but they didn't come from Ayn Rand so they are obviously false.
Your assertions are meaningless, they didn't come from reason but only
Objectivist dogma so they are arbitrary. A theory of concept-formation
doesn't answer any question of epistemology, which asks how knowledge
got there in the first place. Rand took perception of similarity for
granted, she did not bother to ask what makes for knowledge of
similarity. Rand took perception of measurements for granted, she did
not ask what makes for knowledge of measurements. She did not ask
any epistemological questions, she only took for granted
epistemological answers (e.g., assumed the vaildity of the senses) and
then formed concepts out of knowledge already present in the mind
somehow. To assume the question to be answered is known as a petitio
principii.

ITOE is a textbook, but not on epistemology, it is a textbook example
of the fallacy known as the petitio principii. 'For the purposes of
this series, the validity of the senses must be taken for granted -
and one must remember the axiom: Existence exists.' That is two
petitios in one sentence, a Christmas present offered by Rand tor the
critical skeptic or to anybody knowledgable in logic. Apparently the
reason she had to stand on one foot in describing her philosophy to a
reporter was that she had already shot herself in the other foot.

--
We usually go over the top w/ our new found freedoms.
Unfortunately, her 'followers' are as radical as Pat
Robertson's. Discernment goes out the window.
- A youtube poster