Re: Group Entity "Illusion"

Ian Goddard (Ian@Goddard.net)
Mon, 25 Jan 1999 19:38:08 -0500

At 09:01 AM 1/25/99 -0700, Dick.Gray@bull.com wrote:

>Ian sez:
>>The "no group entity" proposition is a fallacy
>
>Only if "entity" is defined so broadly as to lose most of its
>discriminatory value.

IAN: I defined "collective entity" as "the ordering of individuals in a system." Are you saying that we cannot discriminate the ordering of entities in a given system?

>>inherent to atomism that overlooks or denies outright
>>the existence of holistic connections and structures.
>
>Nobody's defending "atomism" here. No one here has denied the existence of
>holistic connections and structures.

IAN: Really?! Wasn't it you that said "a collection of objects can't itself be a physical object," and then modified that by saying "Perhaps I should've written 'mere collection of objects'." That sounds like a very radical denial of holistic structures.


Visit Ian Williams Goddard --------> http://Ian.Goddard.net

" A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with the idea from the beginning." 

                 Max Plank - Nobel physicist