Avocados, Abstract Ideas, and Categories

[coberst]

Avocados, Abstract Ideas, and Categories

 

I plan to have friends over this evening and will go to the market this afternoon to find some ripe avocadoes. Selecting avocadoes that can be served immediately is a difficult task.

 

Ripe avocado is a literal idea and science is an abstract idea. An abstract idea is a complex neural network consisting of literal concepts and other abstract concepts.

 

Is psychology a science? It all depends upon how you categorize science. If the natural sciences are the only sciences then psychology would not be a science. If the social sciences are science then psychology is a science. If human sciences are a science then psychology is a science. Where does one go for authority for such matters? I suggest that you go to the philosophy of science for your answer.

 

Wiki advises me that philosophy of science studies the assumptions, foundations, and implications of all domains of knowledge that seek to be included within those prestigious halls of science. This includes both the natural and human sciences. “In this respect, the philosophy of science is closely related to epistemology and metaphysics.”

 

Robert Schenk tries to answer the question ‘Is economics a science?’ in a copyright article at: Introduction to Economics

 

In this article Schenk recognizes that this question has been argued for over a century without a clear winner. He further argues that to provide a legitimate answer to this question about economics that one must have the ability to answer such questions as:

What does "invisible hand" mean, what was Malthus opinion regarding population growth, what was Poppers judgment regarding this question, and what does scarcity, choice, and self-interest mean to economics.

 

I started this search under the assumption that I could give good evidence to support a clear necessary and sufficient condition for any domain of knowledge to be judged a science. After searching Google and scratching my head I have decided that the question “What is science?” is, in fact, a value judgment.

 

Is value an abstract idea?

 

Is this question “what is science?” a matter of fact or a matter of value judgment?

[ughaibu]

Ripe avocado is a literal idea and science is an abstract idea. An abstract idea is a complex neural network consisting of literal concepts and other abstract concepts.

It's not clear what you mean, in the first sentence, but the ripeness of an avocado isn't a matter intractable to science. Is the second sentence a sentence? It has no communicative value to me, presumably this is your point.

the question “What is science?” is, in fact, a value judgment. Is value an abstract idea?

My guess is that this is a post about self referentiality, am I hot or cold?

[coberst]

ughaibu

 

I cannot answer your question about self referentiality because I know nothing about this concept.

 

I was trying to draw a contrast between an abstract idea and a literal idea. Our abstract ideas are primarily an unconscious construction from both literal concepts and other abstract concepts.

 

“Abstract ideas, for the most part, arise via conceptual metaphor—a cognitive mechanism that derives abstract thinking from the way we function in the everyday physical world. Conceptual metaphor plays a central and defining role in the formation of mathematical ideas within the cognitive unconscious—from arithmetic and algebra to sets and logic to infinity in all of its forms.”

 

An example of the abstract concept ‘A purposeful life is a journey’ is constructed from several primary metaphors. These primary metaphors are concepts developed from living experience.

 

We are acculturated to recognize that a useful life is a life with purpose. The complex metaphor ‘A Purposeful Life Is a Journey’ is constructed from primary metaphors: ‘purpose is destination’ and ‘action is motion’; and a cultural belief that ‘people should have a purpose’.

 

 

’A Purposeful Life Is A Journey’ Metaphor

A purposeful life is a journey.

A person living a life is a traveler.

Life goals are destinations

A life plan is an itinerary.

 

This metaphor has strong influence on how we conduct our lives. This influence arises from the complex metaphor’s entailments: A journey, with its accompanying complications, requires planning, and the necessary means.

 

Primary metaphors ‘ground’ concepts to sensorimotor experience. Is this grounding lost in a complex metaphor? “Not at all.” Complex metaphors are composed of primary metaphors and the whole is grounded by its parts. “The grounding of A Purposeful Life Is A Journey is given by individual groundings of each component primary metaphor.”

 

 

 

The ideas for this post come from “Philosophy in the Flesh”. The quotes are from “Where Mathematics Comes From”

[ughaibu]

“Abstract ideas, for the most part, arise via conceptual metaphor—a cognitive mechanism that derives abstract thinking from the way we function in the everyday physical world”

Thanks for the reply, but I've still no real idea of what you're trying to get at. The above definition isn't very helpful due to it's circularity.

[coberst]

Thanks for the reply, but I've still no real idea of what you're trying to get at. The above definition isn't very helpful due to it's circularity.

 

Primary metaphors function somewhat like atoms that can be joined into molecules and these into a compound neural network. On the back cover of “Where Mathematics Comes From” is written “In this acclaimed study of cognitive science of mathematical ideas, renowned linguist George Lakoff pairs with psychologist Rafael Nunez to offer a new understanding of how we conceive and understand mathematical concepts.”

 

“Abstract ideas, for the most part, arise via conceptual metaphor—a cognitive mechanism that derives abstract thinking from the way we function in the everyday physical world. Conceptual metaphor plays a central and defining role in the formation of mathematical ideas within the cognitive unconscious—from arithmetic and algebra to sets and logic to infinity in all of its forms. The brains mathematics is mathematics, the only mathematics we know or can know.”

 

We are acculturated to recognize that a useful life is a life with purpose. The complex metaphor ‘A Purposeful Life Is a Journey’ is constructed from primary metaphors: ‘purpose is destination’ and ‘action is motion’; and a cultural belief that ‘people should have a purpose’.

 

A Purposeful Life Is A Journey Metaphor

A purposeful life is a journey.

A person living a life is a traveler.

Life goals are destinations

A life plan is an itinerary.

 

This metaphor has strong influence on how we conduct our lives. This influence arises from the complex metaphor’s entailments: A journey, with its accompanying complications, requires planning, and the necessary means.

 

Primary metaphors ‘ground’ concepts to sensorimotor experience. Is this grounding lost in a complex metaphor? “Not at all.” Complex metaphors are composed of primary metaphors and the whole is grounded by its parts. “The grounding of A Purposeful Life Is A Journey is given by individual groundings of each component primary metaphor.”

 

 

 

The ideas for this post come from “Philosophy in the Flesh”. The quotes are from “Where Mathematics Comes From”

[ughaibu]

Primary metaphors function somewhat like atoms

You have lost me already, in your first six words. You're attempting to explain metaphors with a metaphor.

[coberst]

You have lost me already, in your first six words. You're attempting to explain metaphors with a metaphor.

 

I understand what you are saying. I have been studying this new paradigm from cognitive science for a year. It is a unique concept but for me it is the most useful way to view reality and the self that I have found.

 

No one can comprehend it by reading a few paragraps on the Internet. I write with the hope that some of the readerswill be become sufficiently curious to go to the books.

 

The Internet discussion forum is a useful means to become conscious of new ideas but it is of little value for learning. If a person wishes to learn they must turn to the books.

[jedaisoul]

I started this search under the assumption that I could give good evidence to support a clear necessary and sufficient condition for any domain of knowledge to be judged a science. After searching Google and scratching my head I have decided that the question “What is science?” is, in fact, a value judgment.

Welcome to the real world.

 

Is value an abstract idea?

Yes.

 

Is this question “what is science?” a matter of fact or a matter of value judgment?

Neither. It is a question. The answer may be a matter of fact or value judgement, but you have to define "science" before you can answer it! Which is a bit circular.